Palmer Luckey’s retro gaming startup ModRetro is reportedly seeking $1 billion in funding

ModRetro, a retro gaming company founded by Palmer Luckey, is in talks to raise $1 billion in funding, according to the Financial Times.

The company launched its first product, a Game Boy-style handheld called Chromatic, in 2024. Sean Hollister of The Verge said it “may be the best version of the Game Boy ever,” but found it difficult to separate it from Lucky’s reputation as the founder of defense technology startup Anduril Industries.

“If Lockheed Martin made a Game Boy, would you buy one?” Hollister asked.

Luckey said last year that he had been trying to build a Game Boy-inspired device “as a hobby for nearly seventeen years now” and described Chromatic as the result of “hundreds of irrational decisions” that made it “an authentic, uncompromising celebration of everything that made the console special.”

The FT reports that ModRetro is working on other devices, including one designed to mimic the Nintendo 64.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration appears to have embraced Lockey’s vision for autonomous weapons, with Anduril reportedly in talks to raise a new $60 billion funding round.