Bloober Team CEO wants to keep making physical games as long as possible

Piotr Babieno, CEO of Silent Hill 2 remake developer Bloober Team, says the studio intends to keep releasing physical versions of its games for as long as it can. He made the comments in an interview with GamesRadar+, alongside Tymon Smektala, executive director of Bloober’s subsidiary Broken Mirror Games.

The topic came up while the pair discussed Onyx: The Dark Grip, a horror game from Bloober that Broken Mirror is publishing. GamesRadar+ describes it as one of the first third-party horror games made exclusively for Switch 2, and the first built solely for the console’s handheld mode. IGN spells the title “Onyx: The Dark Group” and describes it as a 2.5D game.

What the executives said

Babieno argued that visual and audio fidelity has hit a plateau. In his view, a bit more resolution or better lighting does not necessarily make a game more engaging. He also pointed to statistics showing that most players use hardware that is five to seven years old or older, and said he does not think they are less interested in games as a result.

With generative AI in the spotlight, he said he finds it more interesting to think about the other senses. AI can serve what players see and hear, he said, so touch is the obvious next question. That thinking sits behind Onyx’s handheld-only design, which Babieno framed as putting horror back in players’ hands, and he expects physical elements in gaming to endure.

Babieno did not dismiss the move to digital. He acknowledged that publishers such as Sony see it as easier, cheaper and more profitable. But he said collecting games built a personal bond between him and both the games and their makers, and that studios risk losing some closeness with fans without it. Smektala said he and Babieno come from an era when being a gamer meant collecting, and that he will keep supporting that for as long as decision makers allow.

Why it matters

The remarks arrive as IGN notes the debate over physical games has intensified, citing Sony’s decision to end disc releases for PlayStation games and Rockstar’s disc-less approach to Grand Theft Auto 6. GamesRadar+ says PlayStation has pledged to stop disc production by 2028, and IGN says Sony will end disc support that year.

Bloober’s Silent Hill 2 remake launched in 2024 on PC and PlayStation 5 and received a disc release. IGN says that kind of support will get harder to maintain once Sony’s change takes effect.

What we don’t know yet

Bloober’s remake of the original Silent Hill has no release date, according to IGN, so it is unclear whether it will arrive before Sony’s 2028 cutoff. Neither source says whether Onyx will get a physical edition, or whether Bloober has any concrete retail plans beyond Babieno’s stated intent.