Sony's 'ironic' PlayStation disc decision upends gamer conventions and threatens a $7 billion resale market

Sony’s PlayStation decision threatens a $7 billion resale market. In 2013, Sony mocked Xbox by showing how easy it was to share a PlayStation disc. More than a decade later, gamers say Sony is becoming the very thing it poked fun at. Sony’s decision to stop producing physical discs for new PlayStation games starting in 2028 could save costs and boost digital profits, but analysts say consumers will lose the ability to trade, lend, resell or truly own games. The move could deal a major blow to the global second-hand gaming market, estimated at about $7 billion.

A PlayStation 5 DualSense controller and a stack of retail game cases are seen, with the Sony logo displayed on a screen in the background, in Athens, Greece, on July 14, 2026. Sony Interactive Entertainment announced that it will permanently discontinue the production of physical discs for all new PlayStation games at the end of 2027. Starting in January 2028, all newly released video games will be available exclusively in digital formats and will be available for purchase via the PlayStation Store.

In June 2013, Sony's PlayStation put out a short video demonstrating how easy it was to share games on PlayStation. Then-Sony executive Shuhei Yoshida handed a disc to colleague Adam Boyes, and that was it. But it was viewed as more than just a simple instruction, it was seen as a dig at rival Microsoft Xbox's strict game-sharing policies. "Trade in the game at retail. Sell it to another person. Lend it to a friend, or keep it forever," then-President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America Jack Tretton said at a conference that same year. "When a gamer buys a PS4 disc, they have the rights to use that copy of the game." The line sparked a standing ovation and helped intensify the backlash that led Xbox to roll back its restrictive policies. Now, in the eyes of some, Sony is becoming the very villain it mocked.

PlayStation has announced it will end physical disc production for new games released on its consoles starting in January 2028, making new releases digital-only. Boxed retail versions, if they are sold, will contain a download code rather than a disc. One of the first games that will use this model is reportedly Take-Two Interactive's highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto 6, published by Rockstar Games and slated for release this year.

The economics are in Sony's favor. By selling more games digitally, the company has less need to manufacture physical boxes, and physical discs are eliminated completely, improving profit margins. Michael Pachter, managing director of strategic planning at Wedbush Securities, told CNBC that the move will save Sony a bit of money, but "there can be no question that the consumer pays the tax in terms of less optionality." A disc can be resold, traded in, lent to a friend, given as a gift, kept on a shelf, or preserved after a storefront shuts down. A download code cannot do any of that. Without physical discs, gamers lose the ability to buy cheaper used games or recoup money from games they have finished. The change will give Sony a tighter grip on where games are sold, when they are discounted and how long consumers can access them.

"This is a truly ironic turn of events," Kazunori Ito, director of equity research at Morningstar, told CNBC. Sony won goodwill in 2013 by presenting physical discs as the "simple, consumer-friendly option," he said. On YouTube, gamers resurfaced Sony's old clips with bitter comments: "This is like watching the wedding video after the divorce," one wrote. "Oh, how the mighty have fallen," wrote another. Existing physical games, and titles released on disc before the cutoff, will not be affected.