Sony's decision to end physical discs could destroy the $7.2 Billion second-hand games market, per analysis

Q: Why can’t digital licenses be resold, lent, or traded the same way physical discs can, based on the article?

A digital license cannot be resold, lent, or traded the same way because it is tied to an account rather than a physical object you actually own. The article states that while a used disc can circulate or be traded in, new digital-only titles have no resale path since ownership is account-based.

Q: What timeframe and projections did Dataintelo give for the second-hand game platform market versus the pre-owned games segment?

Dataintelo forecast the global second-hand game platform market at $7.2 billion in 2025, rising to $13.8 billion by 2034 at a 7.5% annual growth rate. The primary article states the pre-owned games segment is expected to shrink significantly but does not provide specific numbers or a detailed timeframe for that decline.

Q: How has GameStop publicly reacted to Sony’s decision and what does that indicate about its business model moving forward?

GameStop’s CEO publicly said Sony’s decision is “irrelevant” to the company because it moved away from relying on used software sales some time ago. That indicates GameStop’s business model is no longer dependent on pre-owned game trade-ins and is focused on other revenue streams.

A new analysis puts a dollar figure on what Sony's PlayStation disc cutoff means for resale, trade-ins, and lending once digital-only becomes the default.

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Hassam Nasir

Tech Reporter

Published Jul 22, 2026 3:45 PM CDT

1 minute & 45 seconds read time

TL;DR: Dataintelo values the global second‑hand game market at $7.2B in 2025, rising to $13.8B by 2034, but Sony's plan to stop physical PlayStation discs in January 2028 threatens pre‑owned game resale, trade‑ins, and lending, prompting industry criticism, legal action, and a shrinking resale market for new titles.

Voice: Hassam NasirSpeed

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A new market analysis is putting a hard number on what Sony's disc decision could cost the used games ecosystem, and it's certainly not small change. Dataintelo pegs the global second-hand game platform market, which covers pre-owned games, consoles, accessories, and peripherals, at $7.2 billion in 2025, with a projected climb to $13.8 billion by 2034 at a 7.5% annual growth rate.

That forecast was published before Sony's July 1 announcement that it will stop producing physical PlayStation game discs starting January 2028, so the real trajectory for used games specifically looks a lot less rosy than the raw numbers suggest. While the used game platform market itself is expected to grow, the pre-owned games segment is expected to shrink significantly.

Sony's decision to end physical discs could destroy the $7.2 Billion second-hand games market, per analysis 4

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Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter told CNBC that roughly a third of games have historically sold used, and trade-ins gave gamers actual cash toward buying something new. He didn't mince words on where physical retail is headed, calling brick-and-mortar game stores "doomed."

Morningstar's Kazunori Ito expects the resale market to keep shrinking and eventually disappear once new PlayStation titles stop showing up on disc. Games industry consultant Michael Futter called the move anti-consumer with no real justification behind it.

Sony's decision to end physical discs could destroy the $7.2 Billion second-hand games market, per analysis 5

A used disc can be resold, lent to a friend, or traded in for credit toward the next release. A digital license can't do any of that, since it's tied to an account rather than a physical object you actually own. Sony already sold 70 million discs in fiscal 2025, roughly 22% of total game sales, so this isn't some niche behavior quietly fading out on its own. It's a meaningful chunk of how people buy and share games, especially in regions where a discounted used copy is the difference between playing a game or skipping it entirely.

Existing PS4 and PS5 discs aren't affected by the cutoff, so older libraries can keep circulating through eBay, Facebook Marketplace, or local shops. New titles releasing after January 2028 are a different story, with no resale path once digital-only becomes the default. GameStop's CEO has already said the decision is irrelevant to the company's operations since it moved away from relying on used software sales a while back, which tells you a lot about where that market has already been heading.

Sony's decision to end physical discs could destroy the $7.2 Billion second-hand games market, per analysis 1

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Question #1

Why can’t digital licenses be resold, lent, or traded the same way physical discs can, based on the article?

Question #2

What timeframe and projections did Dataintelo give for the second-hand game platform market versus the pre-owned games segment?

Question #3

How has GameStop publicly reacted to Sony’s decision and what does that indicate about its business model moving forward?

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Sony is also facing pushback beyond market analysts, including a nearly $500 million lawsuit in the Netherlands and a petition that passed 120,000 signatures within days of launching. None of that has changed the January 2028 date so far, and Sony hasn't outlined any replacement for the resale value discs used to provide.