Videos are seen as big distractions for kids and adults. But a video game publisher DeepWell proves naysayers wrong and plans to create therapeutic video games to support health care.
The founders aim to rewire video games which are one of the biggest culprits in distractions and procrastination. The company aims to launch therapeutic games in 2023 to combat mental health issues.
Devolver Digital
The company Devolver Digital is the brainchild of veteran game publisher Mike Wilson. Wilson is working with medical devices executive Ryan Douglas from Nextern to make DeepWell Digital Therapeutics happen. The company will create games that treat several mental health conditions.
Moreover, they also aim to help companies consider current video games that are beneficial for people’s mental health. According to the founders, there was already a sufficient study about therapeutic games that do a bang-up job of treating health conditions. These video games may help with mental health conditions such as ADHD and depression.
The founders claim that these therapeutic video games will be the best of their kind. But don’t expect boring video games. The founders say that these games will be as entertaining as the others with health benefits to the players.
The team has spent the last 18 months perfecting therapeutic games and working with medical experts. These games are also backed by medical science to ensure efficacy in players’ mental health.
Co-founder Mike Wilson said, “Our medium is often harshly judged for its perceived negative impacts on the mind and body, but the scientists who study video games, as well as the developers that build them at the highest levels, already know that the opposite is true.”
“DeepWell is bringing entertainment and medical science together to build upon the proven fact that video games can be good for you, and, thanks to global digital distribution, they’re an important tool to make treatment affordable and accessible.”
How does therapeutic video games work?
The founders say that they won’t necessarily create the game and make them therapeutic. They say that the games are therapeutic in themselves. Although the founders haven’t provided any details about the game, the company aims to infuse entertainment, intensity, and cognitive functions to boost mental health.
For instance, they might create situations where players may choose techniques that help in cognitive therapy. The games could ask players to think in a particular way to bolster therapeutic potential. Or the game could also ask players to breathe to relax the mind and body.
Both founders are well aware of how their media is quickly judged due to the negative impact it brings to players’ minds and bodies. Playing all night long, neglecting sleep, and staring at computer screens all day could take its toll on the mind and body. However, the company aims to get their games FDA approved.
In the last decade, video games have been considered the future of medicine. Experts hailed these video games as easy-to-use platforms that people can bring into their homes. The first FDA-approved video game was in 2020 and aimed to treat children with ADHD.
The challenge
For now, the primary challenge is how to make video games reliable as treatments for mental health conditions. These digital therapeutic products are still in their infancy and need ample research. This way, doctors, stakeholders, and patients will be more confident in considering therapeutic games over other traditional treatment options. Patients will have to sit and wait for DeepWell’s video game launch soon.
