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3RD YEAR ON THE LIST
Kids Fitness and Educational Games
NEX Active Arcade uses motion-tracking games to get kids more active.
KEY INSIGHT
EXAMPLES
DISRUPTIVE IMPACT
EMERGING PLAYERS
Parents are looking for ways to make screen time healthier and more productive for children, and that means using games to encourage more physical activity and movement along with using gamification to teach skills like coding.
Motion entertainment startup NEX Team launched Active Arcade in September 2021, timed with the announcement of its $25 million Series B round. The motion-tracking game is designed to get kids and adults moving, and requires only a camera-enabled device such as a smartphone. Fitbit launched an update to its Fitbit Ace tracker designed for kids. The device tracks activity and sleep but stays away from calorie or weight tracking. Erase All Kittens and Hopscotch are two platforms focused on teaching kids coding through games. Gaming platform Roblox introduced a $10 million set of grants to support projects that incorporate education into games. The company aims to have 100 million students learning on Roblox by 2030.
Gaming is one way to encourage kids into healthier activities and lifestyles. Some in the industry have also increased their focus in making games safer for kids. Epic Games announced that its parent verification services would be free for all developers to incorporate. While this particular area of games seeks to create healthier kids, China is tightening controls on all games for children, limiting play to three hours on the weekends.
• NEX Team • Roblox • Erase All Kittens • Hopscotch
Credit: NEX
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