It might seem unusual to hear the founders of a VR company and a social media platform publicly longing for the dial-up era. Yet that is exactly what happened at CES when Oculus creator Palmer Luckey and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian gave a joint talk on the joys of “tech nostalgia.” Both Luckey, who now runs defense contractor Anduril, and Ohanian seemed to agree: things were better in the old days.
The key point, however, was that Luckey and Ohanian were not criticizing technology itself. In fact, Luckey stated his support for AI and its positive impact on workflows. Instead, they criticized the aesthetics of technology. They argued that vintage consumer tech products are superior to today’s, claiming that the styles and form factors of the past will shape tech’s future.
“It’s not just about nostalgia for the old; it’s about the fact that it’s just objectively better,” Ohanian said of some older products.
After praising the 1999 first-person shooter Quake Arena, Luckey similarly celebrated old-school media. He noted the intentionality that used to exist in building a music library, whether through albums or mix tapes, and suggested that something is lost in the era of endless downloads.
Luckey also pointed to younger people who feel nostalgia for periods they never experienced. He suggested they are drawn to older designs not from memory, but because they recognize that some of the old stuff is literally better.
Current consumer trends suggest Luckey and Ohanian are onto something. Nostalgia is pervasive, but nostalgic tech design is a particularly thriving niche. Many young people, overwhelmed by the digital saturation of the internet, are developing new interests in physical media like cassettes and vinyl. Meanwhile, new low-tech devices with retro designs are seeing increased interest.
Given this trend, the enthusiasm for vintage tech could also be a savvy business strategy. If Americans are feeling nostalgic, you might as well monetize it.
Luckey is already doing this. He launched a project called ModRetro Chromatic, a Game Boy-like device that retails for $199, plays old cartridge classics from the 1990s, and has been highly praised. During the talk, Ohanian brought one of the units onstage and showed it off to the crowd. Ohanian has also expressed interest in creating his own vintage-style game.
The talk had many colorful moments, mostly from Luckey. He shared that he had been coming to CES since he was 16, using a fake ID and pretending to work for an exhibiting company to get in.
While cute retro games may be part of the future, so too is war. Since 2017, Luckey has focused on his defense startup Anduril, which reached a valuation of $30.5 billion earlier this year. The company has been collaborating with Meta on headsets for the U.S. military.
Anduril was hardly discussed during the talk, but toward the end, Luckey pivoted to foreign policy with characteristically strong claims. He stated that he was part of the problem for a long time by manufacturing in China, and declared that the geopolitical divorce between the United States and China is messy and will not end in reconciliation.