End of PlayStation discs will kill off CeX and used games market claim analysts

Sony’s decision to stop producing PlayStation game discs threatens to end the second-hand games market, according to analysts.

There has been plenty of justified outcry over Sony’s decision to stop making PlayStation game discs, after next year, but the effect on the used games market has been largely ignored up until now.

While many game retailers are disappearing from the high street, the last bastion in the UK is CeX, a second-hand electronics store which has over 380 outlets across the country. 

The end of PlayStation discs will naturally have an impact on the retailer (and other second-hand marketplaces) in the long-term, especially if Xbox and Nintendo eventually follow suit, but several analysts have explicitly predicted the end of video games at retail is nigh. 

According to Dataintelo, the global second-hand game market was valued at $7.2 billion (£5.4 billion) in 2025. This was projected to reach $13.8 billion (£10 billion) by 2034, although that report was published prior to Sony’s announcement. 

The report claims the driving force behind the second-hand market is the widening gap between the cost of new games and ‘consumer willingness to pay’, which has been exascerbated by ‘inflationary pressures on household budgets’. 

The lion’s share of the £5.4 billion figure came from console games at 42.3%, ahead of PC (31.8%) and mobile (25.9%). 

North America is the biggest region, with 36.8% of the market’s global revenue, thanks to the likes of GameStop, eBay, Decluttr, and Amazon. Europe is second with 28.3%, largely due to CeX. This is ahead of Asia Pacific (24.6%), Latin America (5.7%), and Middle East & Africa (4.6%).

While some retailers might still sell codes in a box or vouchers to acquire digital games, in terms of second-hand stores like CeX, which rely on discs for trade-ins, analysts believe the business is ‘doomed’ after Sony’s decision. 

Speaking to CNBC, Wedbush Securities’ managing director of strategic planning, Michael Pachter, said: ‘Realistically, at least one third of games have been sold historically as used, and the games that were sold used also provided currency to the gamer who traded them in as cash to pay for new games. Bricks and mortar game retail is doomed.’

Kazunori Ito, director of equity research at Morningstar, said he expects the second-hand market to ‘keep shrinking and eventually disappear’. 

He added: ‘There is an important difference between players accepting that shift because they see value in it, and having it effectively forced on them by taking away the alternative.

‘Most would prefer to make that transition in their own way and at their own pace, rather than having it driven by the end of physical discs.’

Stores like CeX will likely survive in the short-term thanks to the circulation of current and previous gen games, especially if there’s a slow transition, like the jump from the PlayStation 4 to the PlayStation 5. However, if people welcome the PlayStation 6 with open arms, it’s hard to see how the second-hand market will survive in the coming years, beyond retro rarities. 

The other key factor is how Xbox and Nintendo will respond to this shift. Xbox might follow suit with its planned Project Helix, but as physical game sales are highest on Nintendo consoles, they’ll likely be the last one to make the digital-only switch. 

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