Do you have PlayStation games? You must sell before 2028
From January 2028, every new PlayStation game will be sold in digital format only, and boxes in stores will contain a download code instead of a disc. For Sony, this is an immediate profitability improvement, but for millions of gamers, it is the closure of a multi-billion dollar annual second-hand market.
Technology giant Sony announced that at the end of 2027 it will completely stop producing physical discs for new games on PlayStation consoles. Starting in January 2028, every new game will be released in digital format only, and boxes sold in stores will contain a download code. Games already released on disc before the cutoff date will continue to work as usual. One of the first titles expected to operate under this model is GTA 6 from Rockstar and Take-Two Interactive.
In Sony's 2025 reports, revenue from physical games for PS4 and PS5 was about ten times lower than revenue from digital game downloads. The physical format is no longer the primary sales channel, but it still incurs costs for production, packaging, distribution, and inventory. Sony itself defined the move as a "natural direction" to adapt to consumer preferences.
Beyond cost savings, the move gives Sony almost complete control over the point of sale: when a discount will be offered, at what price, and for how long the game is available. Michael Pachter, director of strategic planning at Wedbush Securities, said the savings for Sony are relatively modest, but according to him, "the consumer pays the tax in the form of fewer options."
According to estimates by the research firm Dataintelo, the global market for used games and hardware totaled $7.2 billion in 2025 and was expected to reach $13.8 billion by 2034. Pachter estimates that historically at least a third of games were sold as used, and that money from resale was used by gamers to fund new purchases.
Kazunori Ito, director of equity research at Morningstar, predicts that the second-hand market "will continue to shrink and eventually disappear." He also points to the irony: in 2013, Sony built an entire reputation on the right to sell, lend, and transfer physical games, while Microsoft was criticized for game-sharing restrictions.
Anyone holding a significant collection of discs holds an asset with an expiration date. As the supply of new games in physical format shrinks, the value of popular games may actually rise in the short term due to scarcity, while common games will lose value as the number of buyers shrinks.
It is important to keep things in perspective: the decision concerns the production of new games, not the disabling of hardware. Millions of consoles with an optical drive will continue to operate for many long years, and the existing pool of discs will not disappear. It is likely that the second-hand market will fade gradually and will not stop in 2028. Those considering selling do not need to rush into a panic, but they do need to understand that the trend is clear.
Michael Futter, founder of the consulting firm F-Squared, defines the move as an "extreme anti-consumer decision" and emphasizes the difference between a personal computer, where competing stores like Steam and Epic exist, and a console, which is a closed system.
The question he raises concerns consumers directly: what prevents a similar move regarding content that has already been purchased? The precedent exists. Sony announced the closure of the PS Store on PS3 and PS Vita in most countries in July 2027, and recently over 500 previously purchased movies were removed from user libraries due to license expiration and without compensation.
