Report: Palmer Luckey values retro consoles at billions

After Oculus, which he sold to Facebook – now Meta – and the manufacturer of military drones Anduril Industries, Palmer Luckey is apparently planning his next big venture. According to a US report, he is seeking investors for his already active company, ModRetro. This would be a turnaround, as Luckey had previously explicitly described the development of new consoles for old games as a “hobby”.

Now, according to a report by the Financial Times, he is in talks with several investors to boost business at ModRetro. The newspaper reports that the talks are about a “valuation of one billion US dollars”. It is therefore likely that this sum does not have to be made available in full; rather, Luckey apparently assesses the company's intellectual property and market opportunities accordingly.

ModRetro already has a product on the market, the Gameboy clone “Chromatic”. Like similar products, such as those from Analogue, it is a replica of the original hardware via FPGA. The Chromatic can use game cartridges from the first Gameboy and Gameboy Color, but not from the Gameboy Advance. ModRetro also releases new games on cartridge, often reissues of classics. However, unlike with the Analogue Pocket, also in Gameboy format, there isn't as active a scene that also makes other consoles available via “cores” for the FPGA. This also allows copies (ROMs) of games to be run.

M64 is ready, but not yet delivered

Next, ModRetro wants to bring the “M64” to market: a clone of the Nintendo 64, which is intended to work in the same way as the Chromatic, i.e., with FPGA and cartridges. The company is accepting pre-orders for 199 US dollars, which is cheaper than the already available and tested Analogue 3D for N64 cartridges. However, ModRetro has not yet announced when the M64 will be released. They have probably learned from Analogue, as this company could not meet its promised delivery date.

It seems Luckey no longer wants to invest only his own money in ModRetro. As recently as July 2025, he said in a video on the company's website that he actually “didn't want to make money” with it. According to other blog entries and photos from ModRetro, the M64 and its accompanying new controller in the typical N64 trident design are likely fully developed. The devices are expected to be released in several colors right from the start, and the displayed circuit boards look quite close to series production. In January 2026, it was stated that “early production” was already underway, and mass production was expected to begin shortly at the beginning of the year.

In the last two weeks, some “previews” have also appeared on retro YouTubers' channels. For example, Retro Dodo shows the menus and gameplay of the early M64. As is always the case with FPGA consoles, the functions can still change with new software versions. Based on the existing devices, which some YouTubers refer to as “prototypes”, one advantage is already emerging: N64 games might start faster on the M64 than on the Analogue 3D.

First M64, then Bluetooth controller

After the market launch of the ModRetro, a Bluetooth controller is also to be released, for which very low latencies are promised. Nothing more specific is known about this. The classic N64 controllers can be connected to the FPGA consoles, but the analog joystick in particular is often worn out. However, there are also modification kits in the retro scene to revive the old controllers.

Newly built retro consoles have modern interfaces like HDMI compared to original hardware and are based on new hardware. Due to age, the classics often show weaknesses, for example in capacitors and power supplies. Restorations can be expensive, and reasonable image quality on HD televisions is usually only possible with additional devices such as HDMI upscalers, which are designed for the often poor image signals of the consoles. These devices can also replicate the familiar looks like scanlines from CRT televisions.

(nie)