ModRetro, the vintage gaming startup by Palmer Luckey, is in talks to raise funding at a $1 billion valuation, according to the Financial Times.
The company launched its first product, a Game Boy-style handheld device called the Chromatic, in 2024. The Verge’s Sean Hollister stated it “might be the best version of the Game Boy ever created,” but found it hard to separate from Luckey’s reputation as founder of defense tech startup Anduril Industries.
“If Lockheed Martin created a Game Boy, would you acquire one?” Hollister questioned.
Luckey stated last year that he’d been testing to build a Game Boy-inspired device “off and on as a hobby for almost seventeen years now” and described the Chromatic as the result of “hundreds of irrational decisions” that created it “an uncompromisingly authentic celebration of everything that created the console special.”
The FT reports that ModRetro is working on other devices, including one designed to replicate the Nintconcludeo 64.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration appears to have embraced Luckey’s vision for autonomous weapons, with Anduril reportedly in talks to raise a new funding round at a $60 billion valuation.
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