The Nex Playground, this excellent compact game console for the family, makes playing motion-based games easier than ever.
People love the exciting surprises at CES. Every year, there's always something new that grabs your attention and makes you think, "Yeah, I'll buy that."
This year, it's the turn of the Nex Playground, this excellent compact game console for the family, making it easier than ever to play motion-based games.
Nex Playground is extremely fun.
The Nex Playground first launched in 2023 and has grown significantly since then. It even outsold all Xbox hardware by November 2025, with over 650,000 units shipped throughout the year.
Spending some time experiencing the Nex Playground will immediately show why. Nex has done a great job with the main features, starting with one of the most important: Ease of use.
Getting started with the Nex Playground is incredibly easy; you just plug it in via HDMI , power it on, and start playing games. The Nex Playground has a small motion-tracking camera on the front that can capture images of up to four different players, and it doesn't require any game controllers, Joy-Cons, Wii-style accessories, or anything else.
In fact, the lack of hardware is another aspect that makes the Nex Playground instantly appealing. You don't need to waste time charging the controller or ensuring the dock is working, etc. It's completely plug-and-play, and you can start playing within minutes of unboxing. The motion-sensing camera will detect your movements without props, and it does so with excellent accuracy (although accuracy may vary between games).
At the Nex Playground demo, there were some props to use, such as hockey sticks and foam baseball bats, but again, they weren't required.
Right out of the box, there are five games to choose from: Whack a Mole, Party Fowl, Fruit Ninja, Starri, and Go Keeper. Fruit Ninja is the only game from an outside developer; the Nex Playground development team was involved in all of the existing games. However, of course, five games isn't a lot, so you'll definitely want to sign up for a game subscription, unlocking over 50 additional games, for $49 for three months and $89 for a year.
These aren't the kind of games that are deeply meaningful and that you'll emotionally connect with (although if you feel that way with Starri or Homerun Heroes, that's okay too). The games focus heavily on sports because they already emphasize movement and interaction, and Nex Playground's target audience is young people. But there's plenty of fun for all ages.
With that in mind, Nex is also releasing a few games designed for older audiences in 2026, announced a partnership with the NBA, and other projects are coming later. So there really is something for everyone in this cute little gaming box.
Nex Playground connects online
With built-in security and privacy features.
One thing that long-time Nex Playground users have been requesting is online connectivity, and Nex has listened. They've added a new Playdate mode, allowing for online gaming on Nex Playground; so far, everything is working fine.
But what people really like about this approach is that Nex Playground connects directly to another game console instead of using a shared server or matchmaking method. This means you can match directly with your game console and eliminate any unwanted connections, and because it requires parental consent, it places responsibility for security and privacy around your child's online gaming.
That's something we all support and want to see more of.
Finally, many people have found their new favorite game console!
Many people play fewer games than they did a few years ago. Steam Replay 2025 shows that many people only played a mere 8 games in the entire year, and two of those were demos.
Part of the reason is that they often play games with their children on the Switch, where everyone can participate and have fun family time, so Nex Playground is an obvious choice to add to a family's game collection.
The motion capture feature works surprisingly well, especially since most games allow four players, and it responds quite well in most of the games tested. Overall, people are quite impressed with the Nex Playground and are looking forward to its release in 2026.