When we started building Nex Playground in 2022, we believed in the vision. We just weren’t sure the rest of the world would.
There was one reason to be cautious, and one reason to be optimistic.
On one hand, much of the industry had concluded that motion gaming was a failed category.
On the other hand, many incredibly talented people had already explored this space before us. They had left behind a wealth of hard-earned lessons about what worked, what didn’t, and why. If we could learn from those lessons instead of repeating them, perhaps we could build something people truly love—and do it sustainably.
That’s exactly what happened with Freefall Racers.
The Right Controls
One of the biggest lessons from the Kinect era is that motion doesn’t make every game better.
For some games, motion is magical. For many others, it’s a less efficient and more frustrating way to play.
Take Fruit Ninja. What would slicing fruit look like in real life? You swing your arms. Motion makes the game feel more immersive because it mirrors the real-world action.
It feels natural. Fruit Ninja was simply meant to be played this way.
Then SGI showed us Freefall Racers.
The moment we saw it, it just clicked.
If you were a flying squirrel diving off a cliff, how would you fly?
You spread your arms to catch the air, slow down, and steer. You tuck them in to dive and build speed. You constantly adjust your body position to control your descent, and you turn by shifting your center of gravity.
Motion isn’t a gimmick here.
It’s simply how the game should be played.
Using a traditional game controller almost feels like the compromise.
That’s exactly the kind of experience we’re looking for at Nex.
The Right Audience
When Freefall Racers first launched, it lived on Xbox—a platform competing head-to-head with PlayStation.
Those are incredible gaming platforms, built to serve a broad gaming audience.
Nex Playground isn’t trying to be everything to everyone.
From day one, we’ve unapologetically built Nex Playground for families with young kids—and grown from there. That means approachable gameplay, no complicated controllers, and experiences parents feel good about bringing into their homes.
In many ways, Freefall Racers had found the right audience.
The Right Business Model
Nex Playground has a different business model: Play Pass.
For a game like Freefall Racers, that makes all the difference.
Instead of asking developers to bet on individual game sales, Nex shares revenue based on how families engage with their games. The more families embrace your game, the more we invest in it.
Developers can focus on making great games. Nex takes on growing the platform, bringing families to it, and making the business model work.
We’re also incredibly selective about the games we bring to Nex Playground, and we continue investing in the ones that families love. Every title should earn—and keep earning—its place.
The Right Rebuild
Calling Freefall Racers a “port” is honestly an understatement.
The original game was built in Unreal Engine. Bringing it to Nex meant rebuilding it from the ground up in Unity, then reimagining it for the Nex Playground technology stack.
The team rebuilt the game around our AI-based motion tracking instead of Kinect’s depth sensors, rethought the controls, redesigned the experience for younger players, and introduced features like Flight Assist to help new players get airborne with confidence.
They didn’t stop there.
The Nex version also adds brand-new progression systems, including XP, level-ups, unlockables, and trophies, giving families even more reasons to come back.
This isn’t simply the Kinect version running on new hardware.
I believe this is the definitive edition of Freefall Racers.
So, How’s It Going?
I’d say it’s off to a pretty good start.
In its first month, over 150,000 families have already played the game. Most sessions are played with two people, and on average each family has already spent more than an hour flying squirrels together.
My conservative estimate:
By its first anniversary, I believe more than 500,000 families will have played Freefall Racers, spending over 1 million hours laughing, competing, and connecting.
That’s exciting—not just because of the numbers, but because of what they represent.
Motion gaming may have faded.
The desire for active play never did.
Some ideas were simply ahead of their time, waiting for the right technology, the right audience, and the right business model.
Freefall Racers reminds me that great games don’t become obsolete.
Sometimes they just need a new home.
Today, Freefall Racers has that new home.
It has a new audience.
It has a new life.
And together with the amazing team at SGI, we’re excited to see where its second flight takes it.