Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Director Says End Of Physical Discs Is ‘Super Sad’ - Kotaku

What the report says

Kotaku reported that developers at Sandfall Interactive, the studio behind Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, criticized the looming decline of physical console games after PlayStation’s reported decision to stop producing physical video game discs for new releases beginning in 2028. The comments came from a wider Automaton interview tied to a post-mortem discussion of the 2025 game.

Creative director Guillaume Broche said he found the shift away from discs personally upsetting because physical games, stores and collections remain meaningful to many players and developers. He acknowledged that the move may make commercial sense, but argued that games as art lose something when players can no longer own and handle a tangible copy.

Kotaku also highlighted remarks from Sandfall co-founder and CTO Tom Guillermin, who said there had been discussion before Expedition 33 launched about whether to skip a physical edition. He said producing discs created more complications and reduced revenue per unit, but the studio still wanted to give players the option of owning a boxed copy. Other team members described seeing the game in stores as an important emotional milestone.

The article frames Sandfall’s response as part of a broader industry debate over digital-only distribution. Digital sales have increasingly displaced discs, giving publishers and platform holders cost and logistics advantages, while raising concerns among players about ownership, access, preservation and the future of game retail.