Nex Playground – a Kinect for kids that beat the Xbox on Black Friday

Remember the Wii? The whole family flailing in the living room, a lamp in danger, grandma winning at bowling? Then came the Kinect, which dropped the controllers and mostly added frustration.

The Nex Playground picks up where those left off. It’s a small motion-controlled game console: a colorful cube with a wide-angle camera that you plug into your TV, and then you play with your body. No controllers, no wristbands, no batteries to lose.

It sounds like a toy. Then in late November 2025 it outsold the Xbox in the US. Not a typo.

What is the Nex Playground?

It’s a game console made by Nex, a motion-tracking company from San Francisco, built for kids and families. Market research firm Circana tracked it as the third best-selling console in the US for the week ending November 29, 2025: behind the PS5 and Switch 2, ahead of the Xbox Series X|S. A cube full of Fruit Ninja beat Microsoft on Black Friday week. I love that.

Out of the box you get five games: Fruit Ninja, Whac-a-Mole, Party Fowl, Go Keeper and Starri, a dance and rhythm game. Those are yours to keep. Everything else is behind a subscription called Play Pass: $89 a year or $49 for three months. That opens up 60+ games, including licensed ones with Bluey, Peppa Pig, Elmo, Barbie and PAC-MAN. New games drop every month. One pass covers two Playgrounds in the same house.

How does it work?

You plug the cube into your TV with HDMI, connect it to Wi-Fi and finish setup with your phone. The included remote is only for menus. During games, you are the controller.

Nex says its AI tracks 18 points on your body, follows the active player automatically and handles up to four players at once. The motion tracking runs on the device itself, so the video never goes to the cloud. There’s a magnetic cover for the camera, and the games have no ads, no in-app purchases and no chat. Nex recommends ages 5 and up and a play area of about 6 by 6 feet.

The good and the not-so-good

What I like:

• No controllers to buy, charge or fight over. One Amazon parent was very happy about that last one.
• It’s fast. Philip Watson at CGMagazine called the low latency “almost like wizardry” and had it running in about four minutes.
• Privacy done right: local tracking, a physical lens cover, no ads.
• It’s a workout for adults too. Early buyers on Amazon use the boxing and dance games as their own exercise.

What could be better:

• The subscription. Five games is a starter kit, and several Amazon reviewers say Play Pass is worth adding. CGMagazine also points out you never own the games.
• Depth. Watson found the games fun but surface-level, and some ran with frame rate drops.
• Tracking hiccups. Watson had arm movements missed in one game during multiplayer, and one buyer says it sometimes confuses who’s playing.
• Space. You need a clear area in front of the TV. Small apartment with a coffee table in the way? Hmm.

Who is the Nex Playground for?

Parents of younger kids who want screen time that involves moving. Nex says 5 and up, and there are preschool games with a grown-up helping. Families who loved Wii Sports. Grandparents looking for a gift that the whole family can play at Christmas.

Skip it if your kids are teenagers who want “real” games, or if a subscription is a dealbreaker for you. A Switch 2 with a couple of party games will last longer for older kids. Want to get moving without a screen? The BlazePod reflex game turns light pods into a workout. And for game nights without any TV at all, see our gifts for board game lovers.

Where can I buy the Nex Playground?

Nex sells it on Amazon. At the time of writing (October 2026) it’s about 240 bucks, down from a list price of $299. Budget another $89 for a year of Play Pass, because you’ll want it.

Move the coffee table first. And the lamp.