New video game console aims to get kids moving

New video game console aims to get kids moving

The company behind the UK's newest video game console is not concerned with the latest state-of-the-art graphics or hardware.

Instead, David Lee, chief executive of US technology firm Nex, says its cube-shaped machine, the Nex Playground, is designed to get children moving.

Launching in the UK and Ireland on 22 June, the Playground ditches controllers for body movements, tracking players using AI and a built-in camera.

The relatively little-known device surprised the games industry when research firm Circana revealed it was the third best-selling console in the US over Black Friday 2025, outselling the Xbox Series S and X.

While motion-controlled gaming is nothing new – Nintendo's Wii launched in 2006 – concerns around children's passive screen time remain a hot topic for many parents and politicians.

Ahead of the UK launch I spoke to parents who already own the console in the US, and tried the machine myself to find out how it works - and if it can really get families feeling fitter.

Up-front cost and subscription

When it is released in the UK and Ireland the Playground will cost £269 (€319).

While users get five starter games to try out for free, a subscription is needed to access most of the Playground's 60-plus games, which include tie-ins with kid-friendly favourites such as Peppa Pig.

A yearly game subscription is £90, while a quarterly one is £45.

Nick from Louisiana, who has had the Playground for six months for his children aged three and five, said the subscription was his "biggest hesitancy" when he first began researching the device.

"But when you consider the fact that a single Switch game costs about $70 or $80, it's really not too egregious," he said.

Brian, a parent from Philadelphia who bought the device a month ago for his six-year-old son, agrees.

"I do think there's plenty of value here, especially when you consider the dollars per hour of this activity versus many others," he said.

Getting set up and moving about

"The initial set-up was extremely smooth, and the interface is simple and easy," said Corey, a parent from North Carolina who bought the device a month ago for his children, aged seven and four.

The system uses AI and its wide-angle camera to track 18 points on the player's body to create an on-screen matching avatar.

According to Brian, the camera tracking technology sometimes felt "a little lacking" and less precise than older motion-gaming systems such like the Nintendo Wii or Xbox Kinect.

The camera quickly configured itself to fit around me and my not-so-large living room area, so I could slice Fruit Ninja's flying produce with my bare hands and hit (most of) the notes to the sound of A-ha's Take On Me in the rhythm game Starri.

While some games felt "like tech demos" according to Corey, others felt more substantial.

"The subscription lets me not worry about any of that and just dive into whatever my family wants to explore," he said.

As the console effectively puts a camera in people's living rooms, Lee said player privacy was the "number one priority" for his company.

"The camera is only for tracking motion; we don't save the video anywhere; it is processed in real time, locally on the device, rather than in the cloud," he said.

The Playground has a kidSAFE+ COPPA certification, something which indicates it complies with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), a US law regulating how companies collect and use personal data from children under 13.

The camera also comes with a lens cover, and parents can hide games or music they think their children are not old enough for yet.

The screen time dilemma

The Playground presents itself as "an alternative to passive or open-ended digital entertainment" amid "a growing national conversation around children's screen time habits".

Anyone using the device will still be looking at a television screen, so the benefits for children may be more a "compromise to have them get up and moving" alongside it, Nick said.

The parents I spoke to said their children often played on the console for between half an hour to an hour in one session, with the games typically being used as a way to transition into another activity, or to allow some structured play.

Brian said while getting a Playground meant they "compromised on increased screen time", the games still encouraged active play "in a way typical cartoons or movies were unable to".

So did I work up a sweat in any of the games I played?

In the initial starter pack, three games involved only a small amount of moving my arms.

The final two, the rhythm game and a set of mini-games, did include more full body movements.

The fuller Play Pass has a specific "Health & Fitness" category which includes sessions such as daily Zumba workouts, complete with an on-screen instructor shouting out movements in time to the music.

It wasn't clear if I was managing to hit every motion correctly, but it did at least get me moving a bit more, and felt more convenient than heading to a gym class.

While the Nex Playground may not be a direct contender to major consoles given its target audience, its recent performance during Black Friday showed it can nevertheless hold its own in sales.

According to Nex, the cube has now surpassed a million lifetime units sold since its launch in December 2023 in US and Canada.

He said the device would probably never "realistically challenge" something like the Nintendo Switch 2, which also has family and children as a target audience and had sold over 17 million units by the end of 2025.

If that strategy pays off, Nex Playground may find its biggest success not as a rival to consoles, but as part of a wider push into how families play, connect and spend time together.

Sign up for our Tech Decoded newsletter to follow the world's top tech stories and trends. Outside the UK? Sign up here.