Exploring the antecedents of game-evoked nostalgia

In recent years, the renewed interest in classic games has drawn attention to the importance of nostalgia in enhancing the emotional appeal of retro games. However, a gap exists in our understanding of the antecedents of nostalgia arousal. To address this gap, we employed grounded theory and inductive reasoning to explore individuals' psychological characteristics associated with game-evoked nostalgia. Drawing on 19 interviews with retro gamers, our study found that game-evoked nostalgia is associated with eight drivers, namely, social disconnectedness, the need for social stability, belongingness, meaninglessness, self-discontinuity, boredom, need for competence and tendency to escape reality. These findings contribute to existing theory by providing insights into the consumption of retro games and distinguishing among consumers, shaping the retro-gaming market.