Sony will stop manufacturing physical discs for new PlayStation releases starting January 2028, shifting new titles to digital-only distribution and consigning boxed retail copies, if they exist at all, to download codes in a case. The move hands the platform holder total control over pricing, discount timing and access duration while effectively dismantling a second-hand market Dataintelo valued at $7.2 billion in 2025 and projects to reach $13.8 billion by 2034.
The irony is not subtle. In 2013 Sony built a marketing campaign around the simplicity of handing a disc to a friend, explicitly contrasting itself with Microsoft’s restrictive Xbox policies. Jack Tretton’s declaration that a PS4 disc buyer “has the rights to use that copy of the game” drew a standing ovation. Morningstar’s Kazunori Ito calls the reversal “truly ironic.” On YouTube, gamers have resurfaced the old clips with comments that read like divorce proceedings: “This is like watching the wedding video after the divorce.”
The economics are straightforward for Sony. Eliminating disc production and physical logistics improves margins on every unit sold. Wedbush’s Michael Pachter acknowledges the savings but frames the trade-off bluntly: “the consumer pays the tax in terms of less optionality.” A disc can be resold, lent, gifted or preserved after a storefront closes. A download code does none of those things. Historically, Pachter notes, at least one-third of games sold as used, and the trade-in credit from those sales funded new purchases. “Brick and mortar game retail is doomed,” he says.
The closed-ecosystem problem sharpens the critique. On PC, players can buy from Steam, the Epic Games Store or any number of competitors. On PlayStation, Sony is the only store. F-Squared founder Michael Futter calls the decision “extremely anti-consumer” and dismisses the comparison to PC’s digital transition as false equivalence. Sony and PlayStation did not respond to CNBC’s requests for comment.
Grand Theft Auto 6, slated for release this year, is reportedly among the first titles to ship under the new model. Existing discs and games released before the cutoff remain usable, but the supply of new physical inventory will evaporate on a known schedule. The resale market will not disappear overnight, older titles will circulate for years, but the pipeline feeding it is being capped. What happens when the only way to buy a new game is on Sony’s terms, at Sony’s price, with no exit strategy? The industry is about to find out.