ModRetro targets $1B raise to revive retro gaming hardware
Palmer Luckey, the billionaire founder of defense technology firm Anduril Industries, is seeking up to $1 billion in funding for his gaming startup ModRetro, according to the Financial Times. The discussions are said to value the company at around $1 billion as it pursues modern versions of iconic 1990s-era gaming devices.
The pitch centers on rebuilding classic console experiences—most notably hardware inspired by the Game Boy and a future device designed to run Nintendo 64-era games—while pairing the hardware push with a software strategy that includes both remastered titles and new releases.
Nostalgia-driven hardware, plus games
Interest in retro gaming has surged in recent years as players who grew up in the 1990s look for familiar experiences in updated form factors. ModRetro is positioning itself to capture that demand by developing premium, modernized hardware that preserves the look and feel of older systems while adding contemporary manufacturing and design improvements.
The company has already shipped a first product: Chromatic, a handheld released in 2024 that closely echoes the original Game Boy aesthetic and launched bundled with the puzzle game Tetris. In a 2025 blog post, Luckey said the concept had been a long-running personal project, describing years of experimentation aimed at creating an “ultimate Game Boy-inspired device.”
From Oculus to Anduril—and now back to gaming
Luckey first rose to prominence as the founder of Oculus, the virtual reality company acquired by Facebook for $2 billion in 2014. He later co-founded Anduril Industries in 2017, building AI-enabled defense systems that have benefited from rising government spending on military technology. The Financial Times also reported that Anduril is in talks for a funding round that could value it above $60 billion.
If completed, the ModRetro raise would rank among the largest recent bets on consumer gaming hardware—testing whether nostalgia, coupled with premium design and new content, can support a venture-scale comeback for classic consoles.
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