How Nex Playground Is Fixing the Wii’s Biggest Problem

What to know

• Nex Playground, a surprise hit console, finished third in November console sales, ahead of Xbox.
• CEO David Lee says the Wii’s problem was that most people only bought a few big titles like Wii Sports and Wii Fit, making the model hard to sustain.
• Instead of selling individual games, Nex Playground offers its titles through a subscription service.
• The company credits Nintendo’s Wii for expanding the audience, but argues that a subscription is the way to keep that audience engaged long-term.

Nex Playground, a new console that’s become a surprise hit, came in third for console sales in November, beating the Xbox family on Black Friday with about 14% of all console sales that day.

CEO David Lee says one reason it’s working is that it avoids the mistake the Wii made. The original Wii attracted a huge casual audience with motion controls and games like Wii Sports and Wii Fit, but most owners only bought a handful of titles and ignored the rest of the library.

Lee says the Wii model was hard to sustain because many players only bought a few hit games. To avoid this, Nex Playground doesn’t sell individual titles and instead offers all games through a single subscription with ongoing access to new content.

Lee sees Nex Playground’s subscription model as the key to keeping families coming back. Instead of relying on a few big hits, the plan is to keep adding new games and experiences so people always have something fresh to play, which in turn keeps the business healthy and growing. “We’re building something that’s meant to last,” he said, “something that earns its place in the living room by being useful and fun, day after day.”