Why 2025 has seen a retro gaming boom

Despite a world where hyper realistic graphics, online multiplayer, and an endless stream of downloadable content have all become new norms for video game culture, consumers are increasingly gravitating to the more analog charms of retro gaming.

A Consumer Reports survey found that 14% of US gamers regularly play titles made before 2000. As of 2025, meanwhile, the retro gaming market is estimated at a  worth of $3.8 billion globally, with projections that this will rise to $8 billion by 2033. 

In short, retro gaming is now a huge chunk of the most profitable entertainment industry on the planet – and 2025 felt like a year where it truly cemented itself in the mainstream. 

Retro gaming dominance 

You might think of retro games as pixelated platformers like the original Mario Bros, or foundational first person shooters like Wolfenstein. However, retro now encompasses titles as fresh in the mind as 2000s games like Super Mario Galaxy and Halo 3. This means there’s a deeper recess of retro history for gamers to jump into, and more and more seem to be taking the plunge. “Retro gaming is everywhere right now,” games industry analyst Emmanuel Rosier of Newzoo tells Back Market. 

“Subscription services like Nintendo Classics, Xbox Game Pass and Playstation Plus give millions of gamers access to classics, while new hardware styled after old consoles keeps on selling out, with remakes and remasters of old games [like Final Fantasy XII Rebirth and Resident Evil 4] also regularly topping the charts.” 

Research from Back Market conducted in 2025 revealed just how much Brits are collecting tech from the past, with 71% currently having a specific piece of retro tech they wish they had owned as a child, and 45% looking to buy one of these in the near future. Additionally, of all the different types of retro tech Back Market currently sells, retro consoles are by far the most popular. This is increasing, too, with 32% more retro consoles being sold so far in 2025 than compared to the entirety of 2024. 

But what exactly is underpinning this surge, especially from a psychological standpoint? And could the rise of retro gaming be due to people’s frustrations with the quality of the current generation of gaming consoles? 

“Gaming is now over 40 years old, so for the first time we have multiple generations carrying their own gaming memories into the present.”

Tapping out of 2025

Rolling Stone’s senior gaming editor Christopher Cruz believes the current PS5 and Xbox Series X generation has led to a lot of consumer fatigue. “New games can be too expensive, they can also be too long,” he explains. “I see people investing in one or two big games a year, or just fully committing to whatever live-service title they’re hooked on. 

“Retro games often serve as a reprieve to all of the above. Some are quick, and even the long ones feel like less of a chore compared to the endless fetch-questing and hunt for side content we’re seeing in today’s bloated, ‘anything and everything’ approach to game design.” 

Rosier, meanwhile, believes a lot of the retro gaming boom is inspired by nostalgia. By connecting with old hardware, consumers are escaping from the constant dire news headlines of 2025, and subsequently they’re enjoying turning back time to a calmer age where Sonic the Hedgehog was still 2D, and not yet a Hollywood movie. “Players over 40 are the backbone [of the retro gaming boom] and they are driven by the desire to relive their childhood gaming moments. 

“Younger gamers also play a big role, but more through discovery and wanting to understand what the fuss is all about when it comes to, say, a PS1 or N64. It makes sense; gaming is now over 40 years old, so for the first time we have multiple generations carrying their own gaming memories into the present.” 

Rosier is keen to note the split between gamers who experience retro titles through services such as Nintendo’s Virtual Console, which runs old games through emulator software, and those who fully commit to the original hardware. “Collectors and older players still chase original cartridges and consoles for authenticity, but the majority experience retro through services and compilations,” he adds. 

“Retro gaming has become a permanent layer of the industry that will keep evolving as both nostalgia and discovery continue to fuel demand.”

The uniqueness of the original hardware

In the process of updating retro games, it can be easy to rid them of their original charm. For example, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time’s port from the N64 to the GameCube removed the game’s foggy atmosphere, which had previously given the game its eerie personality, while remasters of the first three Grand Theft Auto games for the Nintendo Switch produced graphics that were glitchy and far less detailed than they were on the PS2 version [released more than 20 years prior]. 

Back Market’s senior lead refurbishment operations manager Kewin Charron believes the extra effort to seek out original hardware is well worth it, as it’s still the most authentic way to experience a classic game. “Retro services on next-gen consoles are convenient, sure, but they are missing some key features such as being able to use the original controllers, experience a CRT-era look, and collect discs or cartridges. A game will always play best on its native and original hardware.” 

Playing retro games through services like Nintendo Classics is a lot like watching a movie on Netflix – the convenience of being able to jump in and out of thousands of titles comes at the cost of the corporation being able to take it away whenever they want. You’re effectively renting a game that you don’t own and need wireless internet to experience. By comparison, if you own a retro console you have more control due to not needing an internet connection to play. And, thanks to AV to HDMI converters, it is now easy to connect retro consoles up to a modern TV. 

Rosier points out how much the pandemic shifted culture around retro gaming. “During COVID, retro was mostly about collecting. Prices for vintage games spiked because people had lots of money but nowhere to spend it. After COVID, that bubble settled, but retro didn’t fade — it became institutionalized. Retro gaming has become a permanent layer of the industry that will keep evolving as both nostalgia and discovery continue to fuel demand.” 

“They’re normalizing an aesthetic that could’ve otherwise been outdated.”

The rise of a more lo-fi aesthetic 

Another advantage for those looking to profit from retro gaming is how the pixelated aesthetic of 8 and 16 bit games has never really faded. Modern classics like Celeste (2018) and Sea of Stars (2023) look more like 30 year old games, leaning into the pixel art of the 80s and 90s by approximating the shape of a human character through a handful of colourful squares. The magic of this aesthetic is how easily they sell you on the surreality of the game you’re playing, immersing you not through realism, but more by surrounding you with an environment you could never see in the real world.   

“They’re normalizing an aesthetic that could’ve otherwise been outdated,” Cruz adds. “While some kids might not want to watch a black and white movie because it looks old, they’re being trained to accept retro games alongside “modern” ones because the landscape is just much more diverse in its offerings.” 

During presentations like Nintendo Direct and Summer Games Fest, events that showcase upcoming titles coming to different mainstream consoles, a barrage of games are thrown at fans. And here games with a classic pixelated look now sit right alongside those that showcase the latest in graphical technology, normalising their presence and shortening the gap between modern and classic gaming. 

As Cruz looks to the future, he imagines the cycle of older gamers retreating to what’s comfortable and familiar continuing.  Retro gaming, he insists, is built to last and will continue to evolve into new forms: “One day, Elden Ring will be a retro title, and some current teenagers will be showing it to future teenagers, pontificating about how ‘this was peak.’”