Nex Playground is a motion-sensing recreation console that takes the idea of the Nintendo Wii and advances it so that you don’t want any recreation controller in any respect.
And now, in its bid to turn out to be a fourth recreation console within the dwelling, it’s getting an unique recreation dubbed The best way to Practice Your Dragon: Riders of the Skies, unique to the Nex Playground.
Tom Kang, president of Nex, revealed at our GamesBeat Summit 2025 occasion that Berk lovers will quickly have a brand new approach to expertise the magic of the viking world forward of the highly-anticipated launch of Common Photos’ “How to Train Your Dragon” movie. Kang stated he thinks of Nex Playgrounds because the “next evolution of the Wii.”
Developed in collaboration with Common Merchandise & Experiences, recreation highlights embody:
Tom Kang is president of Nex.
Iconic Places: Gamers can expertise as much as six totally different recreation maps based mostly on iconic areas from the world of The best way to Practice Your Dragon, offering a variety of various environments to grasp
Partaking Sport Modes: Gamers can hone their dragon-riding expertise by studying to purpose at targets, and transport sheep in Coaching mode, or defend the Isle of Berk from enemy dragons and showcase their fight expertise
Custom-made Experiences: Gamers can customise their gameplay expertise by choosing their favourite dragon companion, together with Toothless, Lethal Nadder, Gronckle, and extra.
“Who doesn’t want to fly? You can choose a dragon. You can shoot fireballs. You can battle other dragons. And it’s multiplayer. Two players can play with co-op mode or against each other,” Kang stated in our hearth chat at GamesBeat.
Nex Playground is a controller-free gaming console designed for households with younger youngsters, making lively, communal play extra accessible and interesting than ever. It’s the primary console because the Wii and Kinect to actually take lively play to the subsequent stage, delivering a contemporary, trendy expertise constructed for household gaming. The corporate additionally simply hit a serious milestone — over 200,000 items offered since launch in early 2024.
The best way to Practice your Dragon on the Nex Playground.
This recreation expands Nex Playground’s rising library of over 40 titles, and is the third recreation launched in collaboration with Common Merchandise & Experiences after the discharge of DreamWorks Kung Fu Panda: Practice Like a Grasp in December and Gabby’s Dollhouse: A-meow-zing Strikes in February.
This immersive recreation attracts youngsters and households right into a cinematic dragon-training quest simply forward of the extremely anticipated Common Photos’ live-action reimagining of DreamWorks Animation’s The best way to Practice Your Dragon, releasing in theatres on June 13, 2025.
“We connect almost everybody, right? We connect families and friends through active play. Our mission is to get people moving through active play through motion,” Kang stated.
He famous that movies of children taking part in the Nex Playground present the enjoyment of motion.
The launch of The best way to Practice Your Dragon: Riders of the Skies marks a key second main as much as the movie’s launch by giving gamers an opportunity to expertise the high-flying, frenetic motion proper in their very own front room.
In The best way to Practice Your Dragon: Riders of the Skies, gamers take flight in high-speed, movement challenges impressed by the hit franchise. With intuitive flying mechanics, gamers use the movement of their our bodies to fly, practice and experience their favourite dragons to assist defend the Isle of Berk from incoming threats. That includes single and two-player modes, this skill-based journey ensures family-friendly competitors and pleasure.
“How to Train Your Dragon: Riders of the Skies showcases the unique way riders can get off the couch and move their body together in some fire-breathing fun,” stated David Lee, CEO of Nex, in an announcement. “Soon, players can experience the How to Train Your Dragon film in theaters and afterwards come home and jump right back into the universe with Nex Playground. These types of moments are made possible by our continued collaboration with Universal Products & Experiences, who share our vision of family gaming.”
The best way to Practice Your Dragon: Riders of the Skies is the third recreation launched on Nex Playground in collaboration with Common Merchandise & Experiences, following earlier releases Gabby’s Dollhouse: A-meow-zing Strikes and Kung Fu Panda Practice Like A Grasp. This partnership showcases the power of the console’s increasing library of family-friendly video games and reinforces Nex’s dedication to delivering interactive experiences for all ages.
Nex Playground is a motion-sensing recreation console.
Followers can play The best way to Practice Your Dragon: Riders of the Skies completely on Nex Playground by means of Play Cross – Nex Playground’s membership go that provides entry to the whole catalog of video games with no advertisements.
Nex Playground is a motion-controlled gaming console that transforms dwelling rooms into interactive play areas. The best way to Practice Your Dragon: Riders of the Skies is one among over 40 titles obtainable on the gaming system that mix movement monitoring and exact video games to get youngsters and households shifting.
Kang famous the corporate needed to elevate its worth from $200 to $250 due to the tariffs by the Trump administration.
Whereas the remainder of gaming goes by means of powerful occasions, Kang stated, “Where we look, we feel like we’re growing the space through innovation and serving markets that are underserved. We are not competing against PlayStation or Xbox. We are for kids and families three to 12 and parents who want to do silly things together in front of a motion sensing device.”
He added, “We are really going after kids and families by introducing sports activities to them that are of your age.”
The enjoyable of movement gaming goes again to Microsoft’s Kinect motion-sensing digital camera, and it was comply with up by the smash hit of the Nintendo Wii, which offered greater than 101 million items, producing $17 billion in gross income. The Wii had motion-sensing controllers, however you don’t want that with the Nex Playground. The tech is all built-in into a tool that’s just a bit larger than a Rubik’s Dice — a completely built-in system with a digital camera and neural processing items.
“It’s all at one place, connected through HDMI, and your body is the controller. No sensors needed,” he stated.
Kang stated Nex noticed the issue of how controllers have been intimidating to gamers and that they wanted a less complicated interface. And gaming was making gamers extra sedentary, not much less, and that it was isolating.
“We want to get kids and families moving. I have two kids, 13 and 16, and I raised them with the iPad. I felt that there could be a better way. We could have entertainment with a purpose. So this device really is designed to fulfill that mission,” he stated.
Nex Playground is getting The best way to Practice Your Dragon: Riders of the Skies.
He added, “We’re stepping into a void created by, you know, them leading the market with better technology and accessible pricing.”
The corporate can guarantee belief and security for youths and households as a result of it has a closed platform, the place the corporate curates the entire video games and it makes about 80% of the video games.
“No content gets on the platform without us approving it. We’re the only console that’s kid safe,” he stated. “We make sure that every piece of content that gets on the platform fits the standards that parents have approved.”
Kang famous that Change 2 is evolving towards high-fidelity gaming, with a deal with the Steam Deck from Valve as its most important aggressive goal. Slightly than going after graphics, Kang stated, “We’re going the other way.”
Kang stated that the corporate has been in a position to diversify its manufacturing provide, nevertheless it nonetheless is getting hits with tariffs. Nonetheless, he feels extra households can afford the Nex Playground than the opposite consoles. The corporate’s video games have manufacturers like Barbie, Sesame Road and Fruit Ninja.
“We’re very pleased with the performance and how the games are performing. But long term, we want to continue to bring both a mixture of licensed IP as well as original IP to the platform,” Kang stated.
About 77% of people that purchase the system additionally subscribe to the sport service. And after 5 weeks, 84% of the individuals are nonetheless taking part in. One-year renewal has a 70% success charge. Over the last vacation season, the Nex Playground offered out at Goal, Walmart, and Greatest Purchase on Black Friday.
This yr, the corporate is in 6,000 shops and on first celebration on Amazon.
“We are very proud to be listed alongside very prominent platforms now, alongside the big consoles,” Kang stated. “We’re breaking through.”
The corporate isn’t but going to greenlight third-party video games, however huge corporations are approaching Nex Playground to pursue the chance. Nex can be discovering builders to make its video games.
Youngsters love movement.
The corporate grew gross sales about 4 occasions in comparison with the previous yr. And Kang believes that corporations will combine cameras into TVs, and that might make the Nex Playground right into a subscription service embedded inside the working system of the TVs. And there are 1.8 billion TV households worldwide.
The motion-sensing tech might lend itself to different purposes. You could possibly use it to manage your TV set with voice and movement. There are different purposes too. However the principle driver at present is video games.
The Change 2 has a digital camera and it’s going for use for voice chat. However given the necessity for permission from mother and father, Kang stated he doesn’t foresee the usage of voice chain in Nex Playground video games. Years down the street, Kang believes you’ll be capable to management your TV as if it have been a 65-inch iPad. It’s additionally doable there might be AI apps sometime, however the firm is betting on bringing pleasure to households within the meantime.
GB Day by day
An error occured.
