People already were, only 15% of PlayStation users are buying physical media.

Are people seriously going to buy a console that doesn't even read a disk, just to download a game from the internet?

Are you seriously asking? Because I've seen time and time again, the answer to those kinds of questions seems to be yes. I think most people just don't care, and they don't need to, they'll only buy a few games in a console's lifespan to play for multiple years, and they'll either just pick up what's popular, or whichever one has a game they want to play.

We never had game shops around me that look like the ones we saw online in other countries, those looked like relatively cool places to have around. I also once told a friend coming from the US to buy me a whole bunch of used games from a Gamestop and I was amazed how cheap they were. We only had overpriced originals or super cheap pirated games here, used cheap originals were neat.

I wouldn’t hang out in such a place as an adult (and I’m icked by retail-as-community-space) but maybe as a teenager it would have seemed nice. Just being able to ask the people working there for opinions or recommendations was probably a big part of how games work for people I’d imagine.

At the risk of now upsetting cryptobros (but no, I'm sure they understand all too well): we need laws. not blockchain. Even if the perfect solution was created (looks at physical), there is no incentive for publishers to use it.

And we've already seen what amazing things publishers have done with blockchain. /s

I've said this before it's indefinite access you're paying for when you buy a disc not ownership of the game. The only difference is, is that you don't lose access to those games when you buy physical, when you buy digital your games access can be heavily modified.

So far, it’s been very rare for digital ownership of games not to stay preserved. Ex: You can’t buy games from the Wii U anymore, but can still install owned ones. Some games are delisted from Steam, but you can install them.

Notable exceptions: Online games (not helped by discs) and Sony’s big attack on movie licenses.

In terms of resale ownership, yeah, it’s not so favorable. I’m ambivalent on that, because resale motivated a lot of changes in games - more online, more perpetual GAAS, fewer short singleplayer experience.

Reselling does nothing for Sony though, so losing the customers who are buying and selling used games isn't a loss for them.

It's like how people freaked out about how Netflix would surely collapse when they cracked down on password sharing, but it's actually brought in a bunch more money for them. Losing viewers who aren't paying for the service was actually a bonus. Even if there had been a bet zero change in subscribers, they'd save money from the reduction in traffic.

Or best case, even. ;)