Ryan Cohen Says Sony’s End of Physical Discs Won’t Matter for GameStop
GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen has dismissed concerns that Sony’s move away from physical game media will hurt the retailer, arguing the business is no longer driven by software sales. Speaking after Sony’s announcement about abandoning physical discs, Cohen told Bloomberg that the shift “doesn’t matter at all,” adding that software is a much smaller slice of GameStop today while other categories—especially collectibles—carry much more weight.
What was discussed and what it means for physical media
| Topic | Details from reporting |
|---|---|
| PlayStation physical media timeline | Sony plans to phase out physical game discs starting in 2028 |
| GameStop CEO reaction | Ryan Cohen said the change “doesn’t matter at all” and called software “totally, totally irrelevant” |
| GameStop Q1 2026 revenue mix | Collectibles were 41.8% of revenue; hardware and accessories were nearly 40%; gaming software was the smallest portion |
| Related resale concern raised | Discussion referenced plans for Grand Theft Auto 6 to release without a disc, limiting resale for retailers |
Cohen’s argument centers on how GameStop describes its current revenue structure. He said software “mattered in the past,” but that software now makes up less than 12% of the business. In contrast, he said collectibles account for over half of the company’s performance, and he framed that mix as making Sony’s digital push effectively irrelevant to GameStop’s bottom line.
GameStop’s most recent financial reporting referenced in the discussion points to that shift in emphasis. For the first quarter of 2026, collectibles such as Pokémon cards were reported as 41.8% of total revenue. Hardware and accessories were described as nearly 40% of revenue, while gaming software was characterized as the smallest part of the business.
The conversation also touched on resale impact. Bloomberg raised Rockstar Games’ plan for Grand Theft Auto 6 to arrive in a discless format, which would remove traditional disc-based resale value for a retailer. Cohen pivoted away from the resale question, saying he wanted to “go back and talk about eBay,” referring to his ongoing push to acquire the online marketplace with the goal of building a combined “$1 trillion business.”
While Cohen’s comments may sound dismissive on the surface—particularly given that the company’s name is tied to games—his position is supported by the revenue mix he points to: if collectibles and hardware are the majority of sales, he argues, the long-term decline of physical game trading would matter far less than players might expect.
