By Rich Stanton
Skip to main content
PC Gamer THE GLOBAL AUTHORITY ON PC GAMES
Search PC Gamer
View Profile
Movies & TV
Gaming Industry
PC Gaming Show
Newsletter Signup
Community Guidelines
Affiliate Links
Meet the team
About PC Gamer
PC Gamer Magazine Subscription
Why subscribe?
Subscribe to the world’s #1 PC gaming mag
Try a single issue or save on a subscription
Issues delivered straight to your door or device
From£35.99View
Essential Hardware
PC Gaming Show
Dune: Awakening
Recommended reading
This retro sleeper build hides one of the top mini PCs inside and I wish I had the tools and patience to game like it’s the ’90s
He was devastated when his favorite Facebook game shut down, but at 10 years old, what could he do? 8 years later, he’s got the rights, the original code, and is about to relaunch Dungeon Rampage on Steam
Sneeze and this incredibly tiny postage-stamp-sized Atari computer recreation is a goner
Gaming Industry
EB Games is coming back to Canada, ‘with community, nostalgia, and innovation at its heart’
Gaming Laptops
Ancient ThinkPad laptops, beloved by a certain kind of hardcore hardware fan, can be resurrected with a bespoke Meteor Lake mainboard, bringing the 2000s machine right up to date
The rights to one of the greatest PC games of all time languished in the vault of a Midwestern insurance firm until a frustrated player bugged them about a re-release, ‘But they asked me if I wanted to do System Shock 3’
Gaming Industry
After conflict between the staff of gaming site Giant Bomb and owner Fandom, ‘Giant Bomb is now owned by the people who make Giant Bomb’
Gaming Industry
Commodore’s been bought by a YouTuber who’s re-assembling key execs and already teasing new hardware
Rich Stanton
1 July 2025
Though the finances may yet scupper it.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: MHjerpe via Getty Images)
Christian Simpson, who goes by Peri Fractic on YouTube, has rebranded his popular retro gaming channel as “Retro Recipes x Commodore” and says he is now the “acting CEO of Commodore Corporation.” Which is rather a turn-up for the books, even if Simpson trailed this deal a few weeks ago.
The news comes via the below video, in which Simpson briefly encapsulates the last seven months of behind-the-scenes negotiations with the previous owners of the brand, explains the deal that’s in place, and introduces a bunch of former Commodore staff who’ll be involved with the project.
The deal values Commodore in “the low seven figures,” which may not seem much for a company that was once the largest home computer manufacturer on the market, but one of the more tangled questions that Simpson’s video doesn’t quite answer is what part/s of Commodore this deal is for.
Related Articles
This retro sleeper build hides one of the top mini PCs inside and I wish I had the tools and patience to game like it’s the ’90s
He was devastated when his favorite Facebook game shut down, but at 10 years old, what could he do? 8 years later, he’s got the rights, the original code, and is about to relaunch Dungeon Rampage on Steam
Sneeze and this incredibly tiny postage-stamp-sized Atari computer recreation is a goner
The original Commodore went bankrupt in 1994, was liquidated, and its assets were acquired by the Germany company Escom: which would go bankrupt itself a few years later. Since then the Commodore and Amiga trademarks, patents, and IP have changed hands among various companies, and it’s not clear what “the whole company” means in that kind of context. The deal is with Commodore Corporation, a Dutch firm that owns the Commodore branding, and involves 46 trademarks.
The other big question, even though Simpson goes into some detail on this, is how the deal is going to be financed. A share purchase agreement is in place for those “low seven figures,” Simpson says he’s re-mortgaged to get this far, and adds that “household names who don’t want to be named” are interested before name-dropping Elon Musk (whose computing career began on a Commodore). They’re looking for angel investors, but there’s no indication of the timeframe on any deal.
We’re Buying COMMODORE and Bringing It Back?! • Let’s Buy Commodore p2 – YouTube
But for all the caveats, there is a deal in place, and Simpson’s clearly been beavering away on what any new iteration of Commodore might look like. The vibe is “honoring our past, innovating the future” and is based around a rather charming vision of an alt-history where Commodore never went bankrupt and… somehow saved us all from social media? Maybe somewhere in the multiverse Mark Zuckerberg got brained by a C64.
The one thing that should reassure Commodore fans is how many luminaries Simpson’s managed to round-up. These include Albert Charpentier (designer of the C64), Bill Herd (designer of the C128), Michael Tomczyk (who led the development and launch of the Vic 20), David Pleasance (former Commodore VP) and many others.
The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.
The video ends with a hardware tease: Simpson has something on his lap and, as he lifts it, the video cuts to a loading screen, and teases a reveal in two weeks.
So there are a whole bunch of questions about this deal, mainly whether it will end up fully funded, and whether we’ll ever see a product from this iteration of Commodore (‘ve reached out to Simpson and will update with any response). But I don’t want to end on a bum note, because like many I’ve watched with despair as once-great companies of yesteryear fail, fall into obscurity, and are portioned-out among the vultures. Commodore’s in that bracket alongside its onetime stablemate Amiga, with its various owners using the branding for everything from paper shredders to USB sticks.
In other words, Commodore could do a lot worse than someone like Simpson, whose passion for retro gaming is obvious, and is already invested enough to remortgage his house. Whether he can create something like “the original Commodore” is doubtful, even if he’s done a good job getting the band back together, but there is ample room for Commodore to be something more than it is now. Whatever he does manage to pull off, it’ll surely be better than some zombie shell that just licenses the logo for a few t-shirts.
2025 games: This year’s upcoming releases
Best PC games: Our all-time favorites
Free PC games: Freebie fest
Best FPS games: Finest gunplay
Best RPGs: Grand adventures
Best co-op games: Better together
Rich Stanton
Senior Editor
Rich is a games journalist with 15 years’ experience, beginning his career on Edge magazine before working for a wide range of outlets, including Ars Technica, Eurogamer, GamesRadar+, Gamespot, the Guardian, IGN, the New Statesman, Polygon, and Vice. He was the editor of Kotaku UK, the UK arm of Kotaku, for three years before joining PC Gamer. He is the author of a Brief History of Video Games, a full history of the medium, which the Midwest Book Review described as “[a] must-read for serious minded game historians and curious video game connoisseurs alike.”
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
This retro sleeper build hides one of the top mini PCs inside and I wish I had the tools and patience to game like it’s the ’90s
He was devastated when his favorite Facebook game shut down, but at 10 years old, what could he do? 8 years later, he’s got the rights, the original code, and is about to relaunch Dungeon Rampage on Steam
Sneeze and this incredibly tiny postage-stamp-sized Atari computer recreation is a goner
EB Games is coming back to Canada, ‘with community, nostalgia, and innovation at its heart’
Ancient ThinkPad laptops, beloved by a certain kind of hardcore hardware fan, can be resurrected with a bespoke Meteor Lake mainboard, bringing the 2000s machine right up to date
The rights to one of the greatest PC games of all time languished in the vault of a Midwestern insurance firm until a frustrated player bugged them about a re-release, ‘But they asked me if I wanted to do System Shock 3’
Latest in Gaming Industry
Obsidian director Josh Sawyer says it’s a ‘mistake’ for RPGs to sacrifice crunchy ‘sweaty boy’ systems in favour of a ‘one size fits all’ game, since easier difficulties aren’t too hard to make
Path of Exile co-creator Chris Wilson has started a new game studio: ‘I wanted to be creative in a way that didn’t involve being a CEO of a 200 person company’
Facebook users say they’ve caught the app analyzing their camera roll with Meta AI without their knowledge—here’s how to make sure it doesn’t happen
Don’t want to switch to Windows 11? There is one last way to stick with Windows 10 a little longer
‘AI is no longer optional’: Microsoft is allegedly pressuring employees to use AI tools through manager evaluations
EA’s CEO pulled in $5 million more this year than last, while his employees took home the least money they’ve made since 2022
Latest in News
Obsidian director Josh Sawyer says it’s a ‘mistake’ for RPGs to sacrifice crunchy ‘sweaty boy’ systems in favour of a ‘one size fits all’ game, since easier difficulties aren’t too hard to make
Bing Bong is talking to you: Peak players are getting jump-scared by what seems to be the developers possessing a little green plushie
Anthropic tasked an AI with running a vending machine in its offices, and it not only sold some products at a big loss but it invented people, meetings, and experienced a bizarre identity crisis
BG3 might be the last hurrah for the era of the Hexblade, as D&D’s 2024 rules revamp tries to dethrone the king of multiclass dips
Good guy GSC wordlessly deletes ads in Stalker remaster menus with itsy-bitsy new patch
Anker recalls a number of power banks amid safety fears, though it says that ‘the likelihood of malfunction is considered minimal’
HARDWARE BUYING GUIDES
LATEST GAME REVIEWS
Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads
Best graphics card for laptops in 2025: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop
Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most
Best 14-inch gaming laptop in 2025: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands
Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested
Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 review
Razer Joro & Basilisk Mobile review
Glorious Model O Eternal review
LaCie Rugged Pro 5 SSD review
Seagate Ultra Compact review
PC Gamer is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.
Contact Future’s experts
Terms and conditions
Privacy policy
Cookies policy
Advertise with us
Accessibility Statement
Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury,
BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.
Please login or signup to comment
Please wait…