Sony's announcement that it plans to stop producing physical PlayStation game discs starting in 2028 has been met with widespread pushback. You'd think among everyone dismayed by the decision, the CEO of a brick and mortar video game retailer would be particularly irked, but GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen has completely dismissed those concerns.
In an interview with Bloomberg TV, Cohen was asked what sort of business impacts Sony's decision to kill physical discs will have on GameStop. "It doesn't matter at all," he said defiantly. "It is totally, totally irrelevant."
That might sound like a pretty shocking soundbite initially, but as Bloomberg points out, GameStop's business model has shifted dramatically from its early days as a retailer making most of its money selling new and used physical copies of video games. As the convenience of digital purchases incentivizes gamers to stay home and purchase games right from their home consoles, businesses like GameStop have had to adapt. These days, both physical and digital games amount to just 18% of GameStop's overall revenue, according to Bloomberg.
Meanwhile, GameStop's collectables business has far surpassed game sales at 41% of revenue, something Cohen said drove his unsolicited bid to buy online auction house eBay for $56 billion. He has previously said he's the most qualified person to run the website with hopes for it to become a "legit competitor to Amazon."
Apparently, Cohen still isn't done dreaming about acquiring the company. When Bloomberg asked him about the sales potential in GTA 6, which is widely expected to be the most lucrative game launch of all time, Cohen said, "I want to go back and talk about eBay."
Say what you want about him, there's no denying he's determined.
With PS3 and Vita digital stores closing, I've unearthed the best physical games to add to your collection before prices balloon
