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Tech
Jun 04, 2026
Analyzed by Llama- 4 Scout 17B 16E Instruct

Nex Playground Revives Wii Spirit with Family-Friendly Motion Gaming

AI Summary
The Nex Playground is a new family-friendly gaming console that uses camera-controlled minigames, aiming to revive the spirit of the Nintendo Wii. It offers over 50 games that track players' bodies, with a focus on active play and family entertainment. The console retails at £269 and has sold over a million units in the US.

The Revival of Motion Gaming

For a wonderful moment in the noughties, video games became a truly universal pursuit. The Nintendo Wii flew off the shelves, inspiring a wave of competitors such as the Xbox Kinect camera that encouraged people to play games by moving their bodies. But the tide turned: outside of still-niche VR gaming and the odd controller-waggler on the Switch, motion-controlled gaming has barely been seen for more than a decade.

The Nex Playground Console

Now, 20 years later, a new console is aiming to get the whole family flailing in front of the TV once again: the Nex Playground. Launching in the UK later this month, the first thing that struck me about this family-friendly device is just how tiny it is. The size of two and a half Rubik’s Cubes taped together, this impressively unintrusive device swaps cumbersome controllers for camera-controlled minigames, putting you and your family directly in the game.

The Data Behind the Console

The Playground retails at £269 ($299) – significantly less than any other games console at the moment. But it comes with just five free games. The rest of its library is locked behind an eye-watering £90 annual subscription. In the US, where it launched in 2023, the Playground has sold over a million units, even outselling Microsoft’s Xbox consoles during 2025’s Black Friday week.

The Impact on Family Gaming

Nex appears to be taking great care to earn families’ trust. None of the camera data from Nex play sessions is saved – either offline or online – meaning that families can happily embarrass themselves without worrying that an omniscient tech firm is tracking their every movement. “Safety is number one,” says Nex president Thomas Kang.

The Future of Motion Gaming

Online multiplayer is coming to Playground soon, via parent-controlled “playdates”, and Lee hopes that this will also help older relatives stay connected with their families. “The intention of that is solving the loneliness problem,” says Lee. “We want to create a space where grandparents play with their grandkids, even if they cannot be physically together.

  • Nex Playground launches in the UK on 22 June.