Serious Games Leveling up Health Care

In high school, my friends and I formed a competitive video game team called the Ninja 5. We held regular practices and played in weekly matches together. We loved it. Our parents and teachers did not. They implored us to stop wasting our time.?

Evidence now shows that video games can positively rewire the brain. Clinical studies prove that Super Mario can enhance spatial navigation and First-person shooters like Call of Duty increase attention span. These games were never designed to be anything more than fun. They delivered benefits by accident.?

Today, a growing number of games are designed to deliver health care. While my parents and teachers wouldn’t have believed it, we’re at the point where not only do games bring players together, but some actually deliver therapy. These games have the potential to shift billions of healthcare dollars while reaching the most remote and ignored patients. I call this category Serious Games.?

The Quest for FDA?Approval

Akili is a healthcare company that designs games for children with 'cognitive impairment’. Its first product, EndevorRx, received FDA approval to help kids 8-12 with attention deficit disorder and costs $99 for 30 days of gameplay.??

Akili’s FDA approval enables it to make the bold claim that “73% of children who play EndeavoRx reported improvement in their attention”. Their FDA status also limits their ability to update the game. If we consider Akili's product equivalent to a drug, then this makes sense: we don’t want pharmaceutical companies adding ingredients to Advil without regulatory oversight. But games are more art than science. What Akili has created can only be described as boring. It has one simple game mechanic and it requires you to use it 15 minutes per day. The company's medicine might be FDA-certified as effective, but it is bitter.

Akili famously SPAC’d in 2022 at a $1B+ valuation. Today, the company trades at a $20M market cap and recently laid off 40% of its workforce. The Akili lesson is clear: Serious Games need to be more than clinically effective. They need to be engaging. They need to be fun.?

Finding the Fun?

Mightier is a mental health app that teaches children important strategies to control their emotions. The product includes a heart rate monitor for children to wear while playing. Mightier teaches strategies like deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation and mindfulness to help kids ‘cool down’ when they become stressed. The product works, and it helps kids with anxiety, depression, ADHD and autism.?

What’s brilliant is that Mightier doesn’t design original games. They license third-party content that is already proven to be fun. The company then installs its proprietary technology to make the game ‘Mightier’. The result is screen time that kids love, parents trust and clinicians recommend.?

Mightier is not yet a substitute for a clinician. But ~15% of Kids in America are suffering from a mental health condition and 49% are on Medicaid. There’s a shortage of clinicians, especially in rural and low-income areas so most of these kids will never have the opportunity to see a therapist. Serious Games like Mightier can reach these families instantly and start providing care.

Co-op Mode

Telehealth and Serious Games go together like Mario and Luigi. This combination has the potential to create a new clinical model that is digital-first and reaches patients anywhere. At K. Ventures, we’re inspired by teams building Serious Games for anxiety, depression, insomnia, pain and obesity.?

The Ninja 5 are among my oldest and best friends in the world. We left the competitive scene long ago but we still find time to play together. Video games have kept us close. I believe the next generation could keep us healthy.