Reliving 10 years old: descriptive insights into retro gaming
File(s)
Published online version
Author(s)
Ballou, Nick
Bowman, Nicholas David
Hakman, Thomas
Przybylski, Andrew K
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
As video games and players age, some are drawn to retro titles, operationalized here as games from the 1970s–early 2000s. This trend has sparked growing interest among researchers and the games industry in areas such as consumer behavior, nostalgia, and well-being. However, little is known about naturalistic retro gaming—who plays them, and what time periods players revisit. We analyze 1,099 players’ logged session histories on Nintendo Switch classic consoles (e.g., Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo 64), totaling 13,000 hr. We find that retro gaming increases with age until around 40; that people tend to revisit consoles popular when they were 5–13 years old (personal nostalgia) but that some play games predating their birth (historical nostalgia); and that there are no stable differences in well-being between those that do (not) play retro games. Retro gaming may yet have more localized or short-term implications for psychosocial health in older adults and is set to significantly impact the future of the games industry.
Date Issued
2026-03-26
Date Acceptance
2026-01-30
Citation
Psychology of Popular Media, 2026
ISSN
2689-6567
Publisher
American Psychological Association (APA)
Journal / Book Title
Psychology of Popular Media
Copyright Statement
© 2026 The Author(s)Open Access funding provided by University of Oxford: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0). This license permits copying and redistributing the work in any medium or format, as well as adapting the material for any purpose, even commercially.
License URL
Publication Status
Published online
Date Publish Online
2026-03-26