ARTICLE – Motion gaming never really went away. It just lost the living room. Microsoft’s Kinect vanished into obscurity, Nintendo’s Wii gathers dust in closets, and for years families had few options to get kids moving without unplugging the console entirely. The Nex Playground changes that calculation.
Price: $249
Where to Buy: Amazon, Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Sam’s Club
The $249 device from gaming startup Nex has quietly built momentum throughout 2025, selling 650,000 units and beating Xbox in November sales according to industry analyst Mat Piscatella. Its appeal is simplicity: a compact box with a camera that tracks up to four players, no controllers required, no elaborate setup.
For a company with no prior hardware experience competing against Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft, those numbers represent a genuine foothold. Nex isn’t trying to replace traditional consoles, but it’s carved out space that the big three have mostly abandoned since motion controls fell out of fashion.
What the Nex Playground Is
The Nex Playground is a dedicated gaming system built entirely around camera-based motion tracking. Onboard computer vision processing handles player detection without external sensors, tracking body movement in real time across your living room. The hardware connects to any TV via HDMI, draws power from a standard outlet, and ships with a simple remote that resembles an elongated Roku remote.
Setup takes minutes rather than hours. Plug in power, connect HDMI, insert batteries into the remote, and connect to Wi-Fi. The system downloads its core library of five games in roughly five minutes on a fast connection, though users on slower networks may wait up to 30 minutes.
Once downloaded, games work entirely offline, making the system genuinely portable for vacations or visits to friends. The only space requirement is roughly six feet of open floor, which is less demanding than Kinect’s original footprint.
Nex’s background in motion-tracked applications shows in the Playground’s execution. The company previously created Homecourt, an app for tracking basketball skills, and Active Arcade, a collection of motion games for iOS devices. CEO David Lee pivoted to dedicated hardware after recognizing that most parents wouldn’t commit to phone-based active games. Building a closed ecosystem where the company controls both hardware and software gave Nex the consistency that phone apps couldn’t deliver.
Game Library and Licensing Strategy
The launch lineup translates familiar gaming concepts into full-body experiences. Fruit Ninja demands standing up and swiping your arms through virtual fruit rather than dragging fingers across a touchscreen. Go Keeper turns you into a soccer goalkeeper, requiring jumps and dives to block incoming balls.
Starri delivers rhythm-based movement similar to Beat Saber, with arm swings and obstacle dodging set to music. Party Fowl offers a mini-game collection, and a Whack-a-mole adaptation rounds out the bundled titles. These five games come with the hardware purchase and work without any subscription.
The kids’ content pipeline is where Nex has made significant inroads. Games featuring Peppa Pig and Bluey have joined the catalog, signaling partnerships with established children’s entertainment brands.
This licensing strategy positions the Nex Playground as family entertainment rather than hardcore gaming hardware, which is a smart choice given the motion control format and target demographic. The shift toward branded content helps parents justify the purchase because they’re buying into characters their kids already recognize and trust.
The focus on family-friendly IP also sidesteps the content rating issues that traditional consoles face, keeping everything accessible for younger players without alienating older family members who want to join in.
Subscription Model
The five bundled games come with the hardware purchase, but accessing the full library requires Nex Play Pass. The subscription costs $89 per year or $49 for three months, with no option to purchase individual games separately.
A $29 Sports Pack available exclusively at Target stores adds tennis, basketball, and bowling games. Nex has expanded the Play Pass library consistently since launch, adding 20 new games over the past two years and delivering 40 game updates in the past year alone.
CEO David Lee has compared the approach to Xbox Game Pass, framing it as an ongoing content relationship rather than a one-time hardware purchase. Notably, the platform contains no advertisements and no in-app purchases, which keeps the experience clean and focused on gameplay.
The subscription requirement will frustrate buyers who prefer owning games outright, but it does guarantee a steady stream of new content. Whether that tradeoff works depends on how often families use the system and how quickly Nex continues adding titles worth playing.
Market Position
The 650,000 units sold in 2025 represents a genuine foothold in the gaming hardware market. Industry analyst Mat Piscatella noted that Nex outsold Xbox in November, a milestone that speaks to both Nex’s growth and Xbox’s ongoing challenges with console sales.
That comparison needs context. Xbox hardware sales have been declining as Microsoft shifts focus to Game Pass and cloud gaming, so beating Xbox in a single month doesn’t necessarily mean Nex is competing at Xbox’s scale.
It does mean Nex found an audience willing to spend $249 on a device that does one thing well rather than trying to be everything to everyone. The Playground isn’t competing with PlayStation 5 or Nintendo Switch on graphics or AAA titles, and that’s intentional.
The company’s prior experience with Homecourt and Active Arcade gave them insight into what families actually want from motion gaming, which isn’t photorealistic graphics or complex button combinations. They want something that works immediately, requires minimal setup, and gets kids moving without feeling like exercise.
Price: $249
Where to Buy: Amazon, Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Sam’s Club
The real test will be whether Nex can sustain momentum beyond the first year. Motion gaming hardware has a history of strong launches followed by rapid drop-offs once the novelty wears thin, and Nex’s subscription model only works if families keep playing long enough to justify the annual fee.
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