New video game company aims to develop therapeutic games

DeepWell Digital Therapeutics

Ryan Douglas, a medical device expert, and Mike Wilson, founder of Devolver Digital, are starting a video game company that will develop games that can treat health conditions. The company will help companies identify games that have therapeutic value.

Research shows that video game-based tools can help with depression. There was an amazing amount of science that had already been done.

He says that a game used as a therapy would often be designed with fun or engaging elements on top. Developers have figured out how to bring an engagement level and get people to do things with games.

Video games are seen as the future of medicine because they are easy to use and could bring treatment into people's homes. The FDA approved the first prescription video game in 2020 to treat kids with attention deficit disorder. The FDA allowed companies to market digital health products without going through the normal review process during the COVID-19 epidemic, and the agency cleared a number of other digital therapies in the past few years.

DeepWell wants to develop games that target mental health. It is aiming to have one ready in early 2023. Douglas did not give details about that project.

The company wants to help video game makers identify games that could benefit people's health. Wilson has worked with a number of notable game creators through the company, which has published hits like Hotline Miami and Inscryption. DeepWell would look to see if there were parts of an existing game where a player had to make choices in ways that were similar to the techniques used in cognitive behavioral therapy. It could help figure out if there were ways that the player could be asked to breathe in a certain way or think in a certain way to boost the therapeutic potential.

We don't make the game therapeutic. Douglas says the games are therapeutic.

DeepWell would help companies get games cleared by the FDA as medical devices. The company wants to go through the FDA first, not develop games that would be marketed as "wellness" products, but could not make any medical claims. Douglas says that it's important that the games have a clear benefit.

The best way to check if the games work as treatments is still being figured out by companies. The products are still new, and it will take work and rigorous research before patients, doctors, and other stakeholders feel confident in how well things like video games match up against other standard treatment options.

Drug testing does not have to be the same for digital therapies. Drugs have to clear a higher bar because they can be more dangerous than a video game if they don't work or have dangerous side effects. Many of the games will go through the FDA's process, which is similar to existing tools, meaning they could get clearance. He says DeepWell will piggyback off existing research on mental health and video games.

Douglas says that therapeutic video games aren't a replacement for therapists or other mental health interventions, even if they are able to show the games work well.