By Weston Blasi

While some collectors may plan to hoard their physical media, one Columbus gamer decided to liquidate his collection

Videogames are seen on display at a GameStop store in Texas.

Just days after Sony announced it would be killing off its physical videogame discs by 2028 in favor of digital-only alternatives, one player raced to liquidate his collection.

GameStop said Thursday that one gamer in Columbus, Ohio, visited one of its locations to trade in some of his old physical games for store credit. GameStop (GME), a company that is known in the gaming industry for giving cash or store credit for used games, outlined the transaction in a social-media post, and later confirmed to MarketWatch that the transaction took place.

"One customer brought in his Xbox games and received $1,000 back in trade credit. He turned around and used that credit to buy PS5 games and still walked out with over $650 left on a trade card," a company spokesperson told MarketWatch.

After news broke that Sony (SONY), the maker of the PlayStation consoles, would stop disc production for games, many wondered about the knock-on effects for the $300 billion videogame industry.

Some have wondered if this would cause gamers to hold onto their physical games. When asked if the recent disc-production news has impacted trade-in activity in recent days, GameStop declined to say.

"We don't disclose specific trade-in numbers publicly outside what is available in our earnings reports, but trade-ins have always been a core part of how this business works, that's been central to GameStop for years," a company spokesperson said. "What we can say is the behavior speaks for itself: The gamers want to own what they play and keep showing up. That's not speculation about where gaming is heading, it's a response to what we're already seeing in our stores."

Experts believe that it makes sense for gaming brands to shift to digital-only games because it improves their margins.

"It's cheaper, more efficient, higher margins because you don't have to ship boxes," Joost van Dreunen, a videogame-business professor at the NYU Stern School of Business, told MarketWatch.

Critics of digital-only gaming have long believed that the end of physical games could create some problems. One is hardcore consumers who collect physical media, which also protects them from the possibility of that content being taken offline. A high-profile example of that occurred last month when PlayStation removed over 500 digital movie titles that users had already purchased, due to expiring licensing agreements.

Another factor that gamers bring up about a digital-only gaming ecosystem is the impact on pricing, and the inability to resell games.

The digital codes that contain the games' licenses expire after they are redeemed. This means that players cannot lend their copy of a game to a friend, nor can they buy it at, say, a 50% discount years from now at retailers like GameStop.

"This is a natural direction for Sony Interactive Entertainment to adapt to consumer trends as the general preference for digital media significantly outpaces physical discs," said Sid Shuman, Sony's senior director of content communications. "This transition will enable us to align more closely with how most of our community prefers to access and play games today."

-Weston Blasi

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