Sony ending physical PS5 discs in 2028: What Ubisoft, GameStop, and developers really think

Guillemot drew a direct comparison to PC gaming: "What we saw on the PC is that it helped to grow the market," he said . He also noted that moving to a digital-only model could help reduce the cost of console hardware: "There's also some pressure for the future on the cost of machines, and being able to be only digital will help to have a more accessible machine, I would say" .

In short, Guillemot framed the shift as a natural evolution that has already worked on PC, where physical game sales are essentially nonexistent and the market has continued to expand. He did not address the impact on the second-hand market or consumer ownership rights in the comments captured by the sources .

The $7.2 billion second-hand market — analysts' warnings

Industry analysts have raised sharp counterpoints, focusing on the economic and consumer-ownership consequences of eliminating physical discs.

Market size at risk. Market research firm Dataintelo valued the global second-hand game market at $7.2 billion in 2025, with a prior projection to reach $13.8 billion by 2034 — a trajectory Sony's decision could derail .

'Brick and mortar game retail is doomed.' Analysts told TechRadar that the used-game market will "keep shrinking and eventually disappear" as physical discs vanish, because the entire pre-owned supply chain depends on physical copies circulating .

Michael Pachter (Wedbush Securities). Speaking to CNBC, Pachter said the move saves Sony money on manufacturing and logistics, but "there can be no used games" in a disc-less ecosystem — eliminating consumers' ability to resell, trade, or lend their purchases . He called it "ironic" that Sony is removing a core consumer right just as the industry talks more about player choice .

Ownership loss. Multiple outlets noted that digital-only games are licenses, not owned products — they cannot be resold, shared, or preserved if servers shut down, stripping buyers of the property rights physical discs confer .

GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen — the dismissive side

In a July 16, 2026 Bloomberg TV interview, GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen called Sony's move "totally, totally irrelevant" to his company .

Cohen argued that software sales (physical and digital combined) now account for only 12% of GameStop's revenue (some reports say 18%) . The company has already transformed into a collectibles and trading card retailer, with collectibles making up more than half of its business .

Critics argue this stance ignores GameStop's history: the company was built on used-game trade-ins, which will vanish without physical discs circulating . Cohen did not reconcile how GameStop's used-game model would survive in an all-digital future.

Disgaea creator Sohei Niikawa — the preservationist side

Sohei Niikawa, creator of the Disgaea series and former president of Nippon Ichi Software, gave the sharpest developer critique. Speaking to Noisy Pixel at Anime Expo 2026, he said that if Sony abandons physical discs, it "might as well stop making consoles" .

He argued that removing physical media eliminates a core reason to buy dedicated hardware: "If there's no reason to have physical media… what is the point of a console that just plays digital games, like a PC?" .

Niikawa also said Sony "doesn't fully understand what physical editions mean to many fans" — for collectors and preservationists, discs are "memories," not just data .

The broader divide in one table

What this means for gamers

The evidence available strongly supports the analyst counterpoints and Niikawa's pro-physical stance, while showing that GameStop's leadership has already written off physical games as irrelevant to its future. Guillemot's comparison to PC gaming is valid in one sense — the PC market is entirely digital and continues to grow — but critics note that PC gamers have never had a robust physical resale ecosystem, whereas console gamers have relied on it for decades.

The fundamental question at the heart of this divide is one of ownership: in a disc-less future, do you own your games, or do you merely license them?