Sony's Disk Abandonment Will Destroy the $7.2 Billion Used Goods Market - Analysts

In fiscal year 2025, Sony sold approximately 70 million game disks, accounting for about 22% of total game sales.

Sony's decision to cease production of physical disks for PlayStation games starting January 2028 could severely impact the used video game market. Although the entire segment of used gaming goods will continue to grow, experts believe that the game resale market, in particular, faces a significant contraction.

According to research by Dataintelo, the global market for used gaming goods, including games, consoles, accessories, and peripherals, is estimated at $7.2 billion in 2025. By 2034, its volume is projected to reach $13.8 billion, demonstrating an average annual growth rate of 7.5%.

However, this forecast was published before Sony's announcement on July 1st about discontinuing the production of physical copies of PlayStation games from 2028. According to analysts, after this decision, the prospects for the used games segment look significantly less optimistic.

Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter, in a comment to CNBC, noted that historically about a third of all games were sold on the secondary market. The ability to trade in disks allowed players to receive money or a discount on new releases. The expert stated that traditional video game stores dealing with physical media are effectively doomed.

Morningstar analyst Kazunori Ito holds a similar view. He believes that the game resale market will gradually shrink and may eventually disappear entirely when new PlayStation projects cease to be released on physical media.

Gaming consultant Michael Futter also criticized Sony's decision, calling it anti-consumer and lacking convincing justification.

The main difference between physical and digital copies lies in user rights. A disk can be resold, exchanged, given to a friend, or used to get a discount on a new game. A digital license is tied to an account and does not allow such actions.