TBPN · Sep 29, 2026 · 28m · 22m saved
With Casey Neistat, filmmaker, YouTube pioneer and ModRetro executive
A limited-edition, transparent ModRetro Chromatic handed out to OpenAI DevDay attendees was already reselling on eBay for $4,000 within the day, Casey Neistat said — of a run of 8,000 units.
Neistat, who works with ModRetro on top of his career as a filmmaker and one of YouTube's earliest breakout creators, came on TBPN to talk through the company's bet on constraints, his own optimism about AI-made video, and why he unplugs the smart TV in his bedroom.
"The amount of shit being made increases"
Casey Neistat, filmmaker, YouTube pioneer and ModRetro executive, spoke with TBPN's hosts at DevDay about ModRetro's Chromatic, AI content and the value of curation.
The full interview is covered here so you can skip it.
Here are the 7 takeaways that matter.
Key Takeaways
A DevDay-exclusive Chromatic cartridge was reselling on eBay for $4,000 the same day, out of a limited run of 8,000
A new Codex plugin lets a game be vibe-coded and flashed straight to a physical cartridge, no laptop required
ModRetro's founder's answer to whether this is just nostalgia is simply "it was just better," Neistat said
He compared today's AI content wave to "a million monkeys at a million typewriters," expecting genuinely great, fully AI-made work to emerge from the flood
His own YouTube channel went from 280,000 subscribers to 10 million in eighteen months once he started posting a daily vlog
He unplugs the smart TV in his bedroom after a reported case of an LG TV's microphone listening even when not in active use
He said curated, single-topic creators will keep their audience regardless of how much AI content floods the platforms
1. A Cartridge Worth $4,000
Neistat showed off a transparent, DevDay-exclusive edition of ModRetro's Chromatic handheld, announced on stage by Sam Altman roughly ninety minutes before the interview.
"We made 8,000 of them." — Casey Neistat
"There's one currently on eBay for 4,000." — Casey Neistat
Asked about the specific integration with OpenAI's tools, Neistat said a new Codex plugin lets a user vibe-code a game and flash it directly onto a cartridge.
"It enables you to sort of vibe code games." — Casey Neistat
"You're not you're not constricted to play that on your laptop. You can like, you can flash it to this cartridge immediately." — Casey Neistat
He described ModRetro's CEO's five-year-old vibe-coding a game and immediately playing it on a physical cartridge as the clearest example of what the feature is for.
