ModRetro, the vintage gaming startup founded by Palmer Luckey, is reportedly in discussions to raise new funding. This investment round could value the company at one billion dollars, according to the Financial Times.
The company first launched its debut product, a Game Boy-style handheld device called the Chromatic, in 2024. In a review, The Verge’s Sean Hollister stated the device might be the best version of the Game Boy ever made. However, he also noted it was challenging to separate the product from Luckey’s reputation as the founder of defense technology company Anduril Industries, posing the question of whether someone would buy a Game Boy made by a company like Lockheed Martin.
Luckey explained last year that he had been trying to build a Game Boy-inspired device as an on-and-off hobby for nearly seventeen years. He described the Chromatic as the result of hundreds of irrational decisions, calling it an uncompromisingly authentic celebration of everything that made the original console special.
The Financial Times also reports that ModRetro is developing other devices, including one designed to replicate the Nintendo 64.
In a separate development, the current administration has reportedly embraced Luckey’s vision for autonomous weapons through his company Anduril. That defense technology firm is now in talks to raise a new funding round at a valuation of sixty billion dollars.