Palmer Luckey Wants $1 Billion to Revive the Nintendo 64 With ModRetro

Palmer Luckey, the billionaire founder of defense tech company Anduril Industries, is in talks with investors to raise funding for his retro gaming venture ModRetro at a $1 billion valuation. The company plans to sell updated versions of classic 1990s consoles, including a recreation of the Nintendo 64 called the M64, priced at $199.

From War Drones to Game Boys

Luckey is best known for founding Oculus VR (sold to Facebook for $2 billion in 2014) and Anduril Industries, which builds AI-powered autonomous weapons for the Pentagon. Anduril is currently in talks for a funding round that could value it above $60 billion. But Luckey's first business wasn't in defense or VR — it was ModRetro, an internet forum he started as a teenager for hardware hackers who combined vintage game consoles with modern technology.

Now he's turning that teenage hobby into a billion-dollar bet on nostalgia.

What Is ModRetro Building?

ModRetro launched its first device in 2024: the Chromatic, a $200 Game Boy-inspired handheld that uses FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array) technology to faithfully recreate the original hardware's behavior. Reviewers praised its accuracy and build quality, calling it "so close to the real thing you'd think Nintendo made it."

The next device is the M64, a modern recreation of the Nintendo 64 that plays original N64 cartridges. Key specs include 4K graphics powered by AMD, fully open-source hardware and software, FPGA technology for authentic gameplay, and a $199 launch price (the same price as the original N64 at launch). The company also plans to produce games including remasters of classics and new titles.

The $1 Billion Question

A $1 billion valuation for a retro gaming console company is ambitious, to put it mildly. The entire retro gaming hardware market is niche — companies like Analogue, which makes similar FPGA consoles, are respected but hardly mainstream. The Analogue 3D, a competing N64 FPGA clone, is already on the market.

What ModRetro has that Analogue doesn't is Palmer Luckey's profile and his investor network. Peter Thiel-backed Anduril's success gives Luckey credibility with deep-pocketed VCs. But turning that credibility into a billion-dollar retro gaming empire requires convincing investors that nostalgia scales — and that's far from proven.

The Controversy Factor

Luckey's position as a divisive figure in American politics has already resulted in calls to boycott ModRetro products. His close ties to defense contracting and political figures make him polarizing in the gaming community, where some players actively seek alternatives to his products. Whether that controversy helps (free publicity) or hurts (lost sales) remains to be seen.

The Bottom Line

Palmer Luckey going from building autonomous weapons for the Pentagon to pitching investors on a $1 billion Game Boy company is the kind of career arc that only makes sense in Silicon Valley. The M64 looks promising at $199 with open-source hardware, but a billion-dollar valuation for a niche retro console maker feels like it's banking more on Luckey's star power than on the size of the market. The N64 was great, but it wasn't a billion dollars great.