With the Boomer generation falling firmly into the grandparent category in 2024, Generation X and Millennial groups are now the driving force behind nostalgia-driven products. What is incredible is that no one blinks at the idea of a Gen X’er being a ‘more mature’ person, but it is mind-blowing to realise that Millennials are no longer the “youngsters”; instead, they comprise an age bracket that ranges from 28 to 43 years old.

While most of the memes we see online poke fun at these triggers and disconnects between the various groups, what is becoming glaringly obvious is that early Gen X and most of the Millennials are the ones with a deep and abiding love of all things retro. Being raised in the 80s and 90s, who could they not? Plus, they are of an age that has the spending power to back up their need for products that remind them of ‘the good times’.

Psychological and Emotional Appeal

As with most things memory-related, the older we get, the more rose-tinted our recollections of the past become. Nostalgia’s power comes from the ability to attach positive experiences, values, and even loved ones to trinkets from our childhood.

We have seen this across several industries, including toys, collectable cards, clothing, music-related items, and video games. Action figures from the 80s, 90s and even early 2000s are now considered collectable and can fetch incredible prices at auctions.

Here are some examples of the value nostalgia adds to an item:

• The sought-after “Rocket-Firing Boba Fett” Star Wars action figure from 1979 sold at Heritage Auctions for an incredible $525,000!
• The 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle baseball card sold for a record-breaking $12.6 million in 2022. A mind-blowing amount of money for a piece of printed cardboard.
• Nike ran a commercial featuring the Beatles song “Revolution” in 1987. A t-shirt from the campaign featuring cartoon versions of the band as bugs sold for $50,000.
• A sealed version of the instantly recognisable Mario Bros video game from 1985 sold at auction for $140,000. The reason for its incredible value? The original Nintendo seal had never been broken.

Even if the items purchased by Millennials and Gen X don’t reach these heights, they are the driving force behind a growing vintage game collecting industry, e-commerce websites selling 80s- and 90s-inspired clothing, and the development of casino games based on classic IPs like the Space Invaders slot, Street Fighter 2 slot, and Monopoly Live gameshow.

The Buying Power of the New “Oldies”

With the shift from “carving out your niche in the world” to “established maturing adults” comes a change in buying power. Sure, younger people tend to buy expensive clothes, consumer electronics and perhaps vehicles, but those are debt-driven and infrequent once the weight of those debts comes to bear.

Many millennial and Gen X groups are either in managerial roles or on their way to being established as senior team members and owning their own businesses, so they control a lot of buying power.

Gen X’s established wealth and Millennials’ increasing disposable income make them attractive targets for companies looking to maximise profits. Their willingness to spend on products that offer a nostalgic appeal further enhances their value to businesses. Their comfort with technology and digital platforms also gives them a unique edge as they drive online shopping and online gambling trends.

The SEGA SAMMY Case for Nostalgic Gaming

This month, the online gambling industry witnessed an unusual corporate acquisition with the Japanese entertainment company SEGA SAMMY, finalising its deal with Dutch gambling developer Stakelogic B.V.

Stephan van den Oetelaar, CEO of Stakelogic said:

“Sega Sammy and Stakelogic share the same passion for online entertainment, innovation, and technology. Together, Sega Sammy will allow Stakelogic to grow its international operations much faster.”

Koichi Fukazawa, Senior Executive Vice President and Group CFO of SEGA SAMMY, added:

“SEGA SAMMY Group aims to establish a presence as a creative B2B solution provider based on innovative technology, especially in the North American online gaming market. We are confident that Stakelogic’s ability to develop and provide unique, high-quality gaming content rapidly will make a significant contribution to the implementation of our strategy and create excellent synergies by combining with the strengths of our group.”

When looking into SEGA SAMMY, we were pleasantly surprised to find a company with a rich and varied lineup of products. The company excellences in video and mobile gaming, animation, toys, amusement machines, Pachi slot and Pachinko machines, and it provides gambling machines and technology for the Paradise City integrated resort (IR) facility in South Korea. According to its company breakdown, Pachi, Pachinko, and traditional gambling make up less than 30% of its global revenue, a ratio we will soon see flip on its head due to the Stakelogic acquisition.

With the growing demand for retro and vintage entertainment and SEGA Sammy’s ownership of intellectual properties like Sonic the Hedgehog, they will likely focus on launching nostalgia-driven video slots, crash games, and other online casino experiences.

2018 Social Casino Games for Mobile:

In 2018, SEGA launched a free-to-play casino-game-themed mobile app called SEGA Slots. The app featured a range of fun-to-play mobile slots featuring well-known SEGA video game characters and branding.

The games featured in these social casino slots included Sonic the Hedgehog, Shinobi, Super Monkey Ball and Golden Axe. After running the social casino experiment for about a year, SEGA shut the app down but revisited the IP-driven slot concept for land-based casinos in the same year.

2019 Real Money Land-based Casino Games:

2019 saw the company launch its first round of Sega-themed slot games for land-based casinos at G2E Asia. They then released Virtua Fighter and House of the Dead slot machines. While not as mainstream as Sonic, hardcore arcade fans in the target audience will know and love these titles.

What Lies in Store for 2024 and Beyond:

When SEGA shut its social casino app and focused on brick-and-mortar casino games, many articles circulated asking if SEGA had missed the online casino bus. With the acquisition of Stakelogic and the lessons learned from their earlier foray into online gambling, the industry is abuzz with the idea that we could finally see real-money online slots featuring beloved gaming characters in our favourite online casinos.