GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen has dismissed concerns about Sony’s anticipated move away from physical game discs, calling the shift “totally, totally irrelevant” to the specialty retailer’s future. Cohen’s remarks, delivered during an interview with Bloomberg, come as the broader video game industry continues its decisive pivot toward digital distribution, a trend recently underscored by Sony’s reported plan to halt disc production by 2028.
A Shifting Revenue Profile
The executive’s confidence is rooted in a years-long transformation of GameStop’s balance sheet. Software sales, which once defined the company’s identity, now account for less than 12% of total revenue, according to the latest quarterly figures. In their place, a different category has risen to prominence. “Software, it mattered in the past,” Cohen told Bloomberg. “Collectibles make up over half the business.”
The collectibles driving this performance include trading cards—most notably Pokémon cards, booster packs, and complete sets—alongside the resale of retro hardware and physical games that have matured into sought-after collector’s items. Classic consoles such as the N64, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, GameCube, and Sega Dreamcast all circulate through this secondary market, which no longer depends on new-release physical discs for its viability.
Record Earnings Amid Digital Transition
Cohen pointed to GameStop’s operating earnings for the first quarter of fiscal 2026, which reached $143 million, as a tangible marker of the strategy’s momentum. He characterized the result as “the highest operating earnings in the company’s history.” This milestone underscores a deliberate effort to emphasize higher-margin product lines and to reduce exposure to segments where physical media sales face structural decline.
Many industry observers regard Sony’s direction as a logical response to steady, long-term growth in digital game sales and to the costs of manufacturing, shipping, and retail logistics tied to physical editions. That same evolution, however, is steadily concentrating purchasing power within the native digital storefronts of platform holders like Sony and Microsoft. In this new landscape, independent retailers offering discounted physical titles would face a narrowing path, a dynamic that does not materially threaten a business already realigned around different assets.
On-Demand Delivery and Collectible Focus
A separate operational move reflects GameStop’s aim to bridge its evolving physical inventory with modern consumer convenience. The company recently launched a partnership with Uber Eats, enabling direct delivery of games, consoles, and—crucially—collectibles from its stores to customers’ homes. While public debate continues over the long-term implications of a digital-only gaming future, GameStop’s leadership frames the decline of new physical discs not as a liability but as an accelerant for a strategy now built around the economics of rare goods and repeatable, high-margin trading-card sales. For the company, the numbers tell a clear story: physical video game software has become a peripheral concern.
Sources: investor.gamestop.com, www.bloomberg.com