Posted in: Games, Video Games | Tagged: DeepWell, Mike Wilson

Devolver Founder Launches New Health-Centric Company DeepWell

Devolver Digital founder Mike Wilson has launched a new health-centric company for interactive entertainment called DeepWell. Wilson along with Ryan Douglas, the Founder and former CEO of Nextern, has launched this new company with game industry experts and medical experts as they'll be making a lineup of games designed to bring a therapeutic value to those who are ill. The company is planning to work with indie devs across the world to publish an array of titles across several genres with the goal of repurposing those games to "magnify their innate therapeutic value".

In essence, they're trying to make titles that can help you recover in your downtime while still having fun, much like how Tetris has been used in certain cases to help people with trauma. It's a cool concept in that they're essentially launching a new indie game company, so at the very least there's a new publisher around. But if what they're aiming to do actually does help people, it would be a cool addition to have gaming help with therapy on multiple levels. We have a couple quotes and a video from the announcement below as we now wait to see what they produce.

"Our medium is often harshly judged for its perceived negative impacts on the mind and body," said DeepWell Co-Founder Mike Wilson, who has produced more than 100 games across two decades. "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 true1. DeepWell is bringing entertainment and medical science together to build upon the proven fact that video games can be good for you2 3, and, thanks to global digital distribution, they're an important tool to make treatment affordable and accessible. Moreover, with games that are legitimately fun, patients and players will seek out their positive benefits again and again. Soon, some of the best video games in the world will be recognized for what they are – powerful medicine – and game designers will be shaping a new discipline with the potential to reach the biggest audience on the planet."

"In order to produce games that provide tangible results, we've made engaging gameplay DeepWell's first principle, since without engagement there is no treatment potential for any therapy," said DeepWell Co-Founder Ryan Douglas, who has overseen the design and launch of more than 20 FDA-cleared medical devices. "With our team of world-class developers at the helm, backed up by cutting-edge science and medical professionals, we're building and repurposing games that look like, feel like, and play like pure entertainment, but that come imbued with potent digital therapeutics that align with our hardwired, neurological reward mechanisms. This is a groundbreaking moment that will bring video games and medicine together in a way that neither field has ever truly contemplated before, prioritizing a level of patient engagement that has eluded most of modern medicine."

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