Ending PlayStation Discs Could Wipe Out the $7 Billion Used Games Market, Analyst Says
The famous video of Shuhei Yoshida and Adam Boyes at E3 2013, released after the PS4 reveal to mock Xbox One’s game-sharing restrictions, is now being used against Sony.
What was once seen as a celebration of physical games now feels very different, as PlayStation will stop producing physical games from 2028.
The move would not only end physical PlayStation releases but could also damage the second-hand games market, which analysts estimate is worth more than $7 billion.
Analysts Warn Physical PlayStation Discs Could End the Used Games Market
Back in 2013, then Sony Computer Entertainment America president and CEO Jack Tretton said, “Trade in the game at retail. Sell it to another person. Lend it to a friend, or keep it forever.”
As CNBC points out, Sony now risks becoming the company it once criticized. As digital sales continue to grow, the company may see less reason to keep producing physical games, even if that means reducing consumer choice.
Analyst Michael Pachter told CNBC that Sony could save a significant amount of money by abandoning physical discs, but added that “there can be no question that the consumer pays the tax in terms of less optionality.”
A physical game can be sold, traded, lent, gifted, collected, or preserved. A digital copy cannot. Without discs, players also lose the ability to buy cheaper used games or exchange titles they no longer want. Marvel’s Avengers is one example. The game was removed from digital stores almost three years ago. Without its physical edition, it would effectively become lost media.
“This is an extremely anti-consumer decision that has no legitimate justification and communicates a disdain for players in their ecosystem,” said Michael Futter, co-founder of games industry consultancy F-Squared. Futter argues that the problem is that consoles operate as closed ecosystems controlled by their owners. On PC, players can choose between stores such as Steam, Epic Games Store, GOG, and others.
“Sony would love for us to believe that the PC market’s shift to digital is the exact same thing as consoles going down that path. It simply isn’t,” Futter said. Morningstar analyst Ito also believes the used games market will gradually “shrink and eventually disappear.”
According to Dataintelo, the global market for second-hand games, consoles, accessories, and peripherals was worth more than $7 billion in 2025 and could grow to $13.8 billion by 2034.
More recently, after Sony announced the closure of the PS3 and PS Vita digital stores, Futter questioned what would stop the company from eventually doing the same with digital games that players have already purchased. Ito made a similar point, saying there is “an important difference between players accepting that shift because they see value in it, and having it effectively forced on them by taking away the alternative.”
He believes most players would rather move to digital at their own pace instead of being pushed directly toward the end of physical games. The analysts say taking away people’s options to buy, own, and access games does not help anyone.
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