How is that Pantone colors don’t have direct RGB counterparts?

Question

I read recently that Photoshop had Pantone colors, but recently Adobe’s Pantone license expired, so images created using Pantone colors simply lost that part of the image.

I’m not an expert on color, but isn’t almost anything represented by RGB? Why aren’t those colors just … colors? With specific number values that are encoded? Can these colors not be understood through regular web hex codes?

In: 16

Answer 1

Because it’s impossible to make a true blue or a true red something about not being able to find the correct pigments (it’s been along time since trade school. I’m an offset printer by trade)