Nostalgia is paying off big for video game makers

• Nostalgia is proving lucrative for video game makers.
• "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time" and "World of Warcraft: Forever" debuted this month.
• Take-Two's CEO said preorder sales of "Grand Theft Auto VI" have exceeded his expectations.

Gen X and millennial gamers might be feeling a heavy dose of deja vú right now.

Major developers are leaning into nostalgia, releasing new video games this month from beloved, decades-old franchises. So far, it seems to be paying off.

Blizzard Entertainment, owned by Microsoft, kicked it off on November 4 when it debuted "World of Warcraft: Forever." The original "World of Warcraft" came out 22 years ago.

Two days later, the company said the "World of Warcraft: Forever" launch made franchise history. Blizzard said the video game has been the largest launch in "World of Warcraft" history in terms of peak concurrent players and the highest number of returning players.

Nintendo then released "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time" for Nintendo Switch 2 on November 5. This game is a full remake of the company's original 1998 version developed for the Nintendo 64. On Wednesday, Nintendo said the game set a record by selling more than 5.2 million units worldwide in the first four days.

And who could forget "Grand Theft Auto VI," the highly anticipated game by Rockstar Games, a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive? Although the latest "Grand Theft Auto VI" doesn't hit shelves until November 19, fans have been clamoring for a copy since at least 2022, when a hacker leaked footage of the game, which was still in development at the time. Rockstar Games formally announced "Grand Theft Auto VI" in 2023. The last iteration of "GTA" was released in 2013, and the original came out in 1997.

Despite the production delays, Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick told CNBC on Tuesday that preorder sales have "vastly exceeded" their expectations.

"The good news is it's our second biggest release in the history of the franchise," Zelnick said. "And we expect it's going to be immensely successful and profitable."

The success around the three games comes at a time when the video game industry is trying to win over customers even as rising hardware costs and semiconductor competition drive up prices.