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Switch, PS5, and XBox might be the biggest names in video games, but David Lee and a group of entrepreneurial alums from companies like Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Meta are carving out a niche market with Nex, a new alternative. The company’s Nex Playground device has sold more than 200,000 units. Instead of buying individual games, families buy a subscription-based collection of 40-plus titles. Like the old Nintendo Wii, Nex focuses on family-friendly, movement-based games. The Nex device plugs into TVs for motion-controlled experiences. Instead of controllers, the device uses a built-in camera that enables you to play games by moving your hands and feet. With national retail expansion underway across 5,000 stores, Nex positions itself as a simpler alternative to pricier, fancier, thumb-based video games. Fast Company spoke with Lee, the founding CEO, about how Nex competes against industry giants and how the company develops distinct hardware and games. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity. How do you position Nex in relation to Nintendo and Xbox? We all have a focus on core customers. Nintendo went back to what they were doinghandheld gaming and Mariotheir biggest franchises. Xbox users are gamers, people who got an Xbox to play games like Halo. When Microsoft was under pressure from PS4’s lower price, they unbundled Kinect and collapsed that system to compete. We come into this space without any of those existing customers. We decided from the ground up to serve motion gaming. The design of our device, the pricing, how we use one camera to track multiple people, moving sensors into software and AIit’s all about keeping it affordable with a subscription service that takes care of the whole family. Why did you build a dedicated device after starting with mobile apps? Before we built Nex Playground, we were building motion games on phones. What we discovered is that when we create dedicated hardware instead, we have a much deeper relationship with customers. When there’s a device where the only thing it does is bring the family together to play active games, it shows big potential. When you use your TV for a motion-game experience, you pay much more attention to it than you would to a game on your phone. The experience is a lot better, and customers love it more. How are families using Nex in ways you didn’t expect? When we started searching for customers and building our Facebook community, which now has over 20,000 people, we discovered new use cases. We found that when kids come back from school, we have a half-hour where they just play. On weekends, they play when friends come over. [Photo: Nex] We’ve also found that when kids are at school, parents want fitness experiences for themselves. Even grandparents derive benefits when they have something to do with their body. We’re defining what role we play for different people in the family, delivering benefits at different times of day, different days of the week, even different seasons of the year. In summer when kids are off school, we can occupy them and get them moving and learning. Whats your approach to developing games in a saturated market? We’re focusing on safety, privacy, and security first since we’re serving families. We have our first-party teams building games, but we also work with ten studio deals already, with seven games launched. We bring in partners whose games we like, and we share revenue with them. We want to keep our model simplewe have our subscription model and want to supply and delight users all year. We don’t want to open the system to many games that might be low quality. We’re curating a set of content and working with developers who are passionate about creating great things. Our business model is simple, honest, and sustainableno ads, no in-app purchases. The moment you open to third parties, they think about different ways to make money. For families, we don’t want to overwhelm themwe just want to serve them really well. How do you keep up with hardware competition? We think about our hardware in a similar way to how Amazon thinks about the Kindle or Apple thinks about the iPad. Every year, we want to do something better to create perfect experiences. For example, we improved the remote control from 2023 to 2024. We learned that the joystick was a little hard for young kids to useI saw my daughter struggling to press itso we made it simpler. [Photo: Nex] We’re always looking at what problems people face and how to improve. The hardware cycle is yearly, and we might be able to do something new each year. But we’re not thinking about something dramatically differentwe have a pretty good long trajectory ahead. A lot of improvements actually come through software. With the same hardware, you get access to new technology we develop as detection technologies get better. We don’t want to force customers to buy new hardware to play something new. We think about compatibility and how not to fully obsolete customers. This is a device that can serve your family for years to come. Given how much attention is paid to Nintendos new Switch, how are people discovering Nex? According to our surveys, roughly 40% of customers hear about us from friends and families. The next-largest segment, about 20%, comes from our online ads. Another 13% first see us in retail stores. Currently, we’re in 700 Target stores, 100 Walmart locations, and 200 Best Buy stores. This year, we have a national retail expansion to over 5,000 stores. Amazon is also now recognizing us as a new gaming system categoryif you look at Amazon video games, they put Nex Playground right next to PlayStation, Xbox, and Swith as top-level tabs, even though we’re way smaller than any of them. What’s your long-term vision for Nex? We want to keep kids active, bring families together, and even help keep elderly people active so they can stay independent. We want to tie your family together locally and remotely. We’re happy seeing more grandparents buying Nex for their grandkids and then saying “I want one too.”
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E-Commerce
Commuters in the New York City and New Jersey area are in for what is likely to be a weekend of increased congestion and more limited transit options after the engineers who run the New Jersey Transit rail system voted to go on strike. That strike is now in effect and could continue throughout the weekendand potentially even longer. Heres what you need to know about the NJ Transit strike. Whats happened? On Thursday, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) announced that its members who run the trains in the New Jersey Transit Corporation, better known as NJ Transit, were officially on strike. The strike came after the BLET and NJ Transit failed to reach a deal on a new contract for the approximately 450 engineers and trainees who run the railway and are represented by the union. The main issue centers around a disagreement on wage increases for the workers. News of the strike is no doubt a disappointment to the 100,000 NYC and NJ commuters who use the line daily, especially after both sides were reportedly close to a deal. Talks between both sides went on for 15 hours on Thursday and ended shortly before 10 p.m., reports CNN. The strike then officially began at 12:01 a.m., today, Friday, May 16. It is the first time union members working for New Jersey Transit have gone on strike in 42 years. The last time NJ Transit workers took to the picket lines was in 1983. What do the striking rail workers want? The BLETs union members are striking because no acceptable deal was reached on wage increases for its members. In a notice announcing the strike, BLET says that its NJ Transit members have not received a raise for five years. The union also notes that NJ Transit engineers make at least $10 less per hour than the engineers for other passenger railroads that share the same train platforms as the ones used by NJ Transit. NJ Transit has a half-billion dollars for a swanky new headquarters and $53 million for decorating the interior of that unnecessary building, BLET National President Mark Wallace said in a prepared statement. They gave away $20 million in revenue during a fare holiday last year. They have money for penthouse views and pet projects, just not for their front-line workers. Enough is enough. We will stay out until our members receive the fair pay that they deserve. In addition to the strike now in effect, from 4 a.m. this morning BLET members began picketing at multiple locations, including NJ Transits Newark headquarters, New York’s Penn Station, and the Atlantic City Rail Terminal in Atlantic City. The union says that despite the transit agency having the funds for a raise, NJ Transit managers walked out of talks before 10 p.m. on Thursday. What does NJ Transit say? NJ Transit, for its part, has posted a fact sheet about the strike, which lays out six claims and what the transit agency says are the facts about the claims. NJ Transit says that it offered BLET members a competitive wage and benefits package that all 14 other rail labor unions accepted in 2021. It also says that under its offer, NJ Transit locomotive engineers would have seen their average total earnings rise from $135,000 per year now to $172,856 as of July 1, 2027. The transit agency says these wages are competitive within the region and higher than the wages Philadelphias SEPTA workers receive. It concedes that the wages are lower than those received by MTA (Metro-North Railroad and Long Island Rail Road) workers in New York, but it adds, It isn’t reasonable to live and work in New Jersey, but demand to be paid like you live and work in New York. How long could the strike last? That is impossible to tell at this point. In theory, NJ Transit and BLET could agree to return to the negotiating table at any timealthough thats unlikely to happen today. However, on Thursday, NJ Transit CEO Kris Kolluri said that both sides are currently scheduled to start negotiating again on Sunday. But just because negotiations are scheduledor even begindoesnt mean the strike will be called off anytime soon. Indeed, if BLET would call off the strike, it may lessen the pressure on NJ Transit to meet their demands. CNN notes that when Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority (SEPTA) workers went on strike in the 1980s, the strike lasted for 108 days. A strike of Metro-North workers lasted 42 days, and a strike of Long Island Railroad workers lasted 11 days. What should I do if I plan to use NJ Transit today? You should rethink your travel plans. NJ Transit has posted a notice warning of the complete suspension of services on its rail lines. The agency says it strongly encourages all those who can work from home to do so and limit traveling on the NJ TRANSIT system to essential purposes only. However, if you do need to commute, the agency says that it is adding very limited capacity to existing New York commuter routes on its bus services. The agency also says that from May 19, its regional Park & Ride service will operate on a first come, first served basis. Commuters who need to use NJ transit during the strike are strongely encouraged to check out the agencys rail strike information page here. What if Im seeing the Shakira or Beyoncé concerts? From this weekend, there are also two large music events planned in the area that NJ Transit normally serves. The first is the Shakira concert at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, which begins at 7:30 p.m. tonight, May 16. Then, Beyoncé is scheduled to perform at the same stadium for five nights between May 22 and May 29. MetLife Stadium has posted some travel options for concertgoers who are seeing the Shakira show tonight. The stadium points out that there will be no NJ Transit bus or rail service to the stadium tonight. It says that those coming to the concert from New York City may be able to use the Coach USA bus service, which it says will be limited. The venue also asks people who plan to arrive by car to please carpool and arrive early to help ease congestion. Will Congress step in? When it comes to transportation strikes, Congress does have the authority to act and compel workers to accept a deal and return to their jobs, notes CNN. The last time Congress did this was in December 2022 when it voted to force workers from the countrys four major freight railroads to accept a deal. However, CNN points out that Congress likely felt more compelled to step in at that time because the strike affected mst of the country. The NJ Transit strike is a local affair, which means Congress may be more reluctant to interfere.
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E-Commerce
Cory Joseph has been blind since birth. So hes among the people Apple aims to serve with an addition to its App Store called Accessibility Nutrition Labels, one of a raft of features the company announced earlier this week to mark Global Accessibility Awareness Day. Once the labels go live later this year, each apps listing will detail the accessibility features it supports, such as the VoiceOver screen reader, voice input, options to adjust text size and screen contrast, and captioned audio. These enabling technologies can be the difference between an app being essential and unusable: Having this level of transparency from the App Store is huge, says Joseph. He isnt just one of the users who will benefit from that information, though. As a principal accessibility solutions architect at CVS Health, Joseph is in the business of making sure software works for everybody. Given his employers scaleits the worlds second-largest healthcare company by revenue and reaches 100 million people a dayits a job with the potential for deep real-world impact. When using CVSs apps, everyone’s trying to find the best care, and we want to make sure that’s barrier-free for everyone, explains Joseph. The 6-year-old team hes on has been responsible for achievements that go well beyond taking advantage of the core accessibility features offered by Apple and other platform providers. Spoken Rx uses RFID technology to identify prescription meds and read the vital details about them out loud. [Photo: Courtesy of CVS] In 2020, for instance, the company introduced a CVS Pharmacy app feature called Spoken Rxa baby of mine, Joseph says. Special radio-frequency identification (RFID) labels on prescription containers enable it to read aloud vital information such as dosage instructions. CVS Health has also made some of its investments in accessibility freely available to other developers by open-sourcing them, including iOS and Android code, an automated system for testing website usability, and tools for annotating web designs in Figma. As a field, accessibility has come a long way since Apple first dedicated a team to it, initially known as the Office of Special Education. Over 40 years, the company has built a wealth of functionality into its products to facilitate their use by people with disabilities, including the technologies that make the iPhone useful even if you cant see its touchscreen interface. Some of its recent advances, such as on-device generation of custom synthetic voices, would have been unimaginable just a few years ago. This weeks announcements even include support for brain-computer interfaces. By contrast, theres nothing gee-whizzy about the Accessibility Nutrition Labels themselves. They just summarize the features that a given app has enabled. But by doing that in such a straightforward, prominent way, theyll not only aid millions of users but also give some glory to the software makers who take accessible design seriously. Rather than be embarrassed by listings that make their lack of effort obvious, developers who dont yet have much to brag about might finally get with the program. Accessibility Nutrition Labels will clearly indicate which features for inclusive design an app supports. [Photo: Apple] Joseph hopes that the labels associations are only positive. It’s easy to think about this sort of thing as a badge of shame, and I think that’s not the right way to think about this, he told me. This is an opportunity for independent developers, large organizations, and everyone in between to highlight the good work they do. Even though Joseph works for a company that has dedicated significant mindshare and money to that good work, hes up front about the obstacles to rapid progress that large companies face, even when they have all the right intentions. I would be lying if I said that there aren’t challenges, he told me. We’re a gigantic organization. There are challenges in every gigantic organization. Of course, we balance all of our work and plan everything out as best as we can, and we deliver the most successful experience that we can across our applications. The good news, he adds, is that CVS Health-size resources arent necessary to make software accessible. Realistically, it’s easier for smaller developers, he says. They can move more quickly, they can update their code faster, and they can adapt to and take in their user feedback in real time and make those changes by engaging directly. For independent and smaller developers, this shouldn’t be a burden. I find that take heartening. And if Joseph is right that app creators dont have to be humongous to get inclusive design right, Accessibility Nutrition Labels will soon prove it. Youve been reading Plugged In, Fast Companys weekly tech newsletter from me, global technology editor Harry McCracken. If a friend or colleague forwarded this edition to youor if you’re reading it on FastCompany.comyou can heck out previous issues and sign up to get it yourself every Friday morning. I love hearing from you: Ping me at hmccracken@fastcompany.com with your feedback and ideas for future newsletters. I’m also on Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads, and you can follow Plugged In on Flipboard. More top tech stories from Fast Company Donald Trump says he’s our ‘crypto president,’ but he’s tanking its best shot at adoptionThe president’s deep involvement in the crypto industry is raising red flags in Washington, leading to the collapse of a key stablecoin bill. 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