We only have a business if parents stay with us for a very long time
In an era when children's digital lives have become a source of deep parental anxiety, a small American company is arriving in British homes with a quiet proposition: that safety, not spectacle, can be the foundation of a lasting business. The Nex Playground, launching in the UK this month, is a children's gaming console built not around growth metrics or advertising revenue, but around the idea that trust, once earned from parents, is worth more than any data point. Its rise from 5,000 units to 700,000 in under two years suggests that this wager may be landing on something real—a hunger, long unmet, for technology that genuinely protects the young.
- Parents increasingly view mainstream gaming platforms not as entertainment but as potential sources of harm, creating urgent demand for alternatives that don't require constant vigilance.
- Platforms like Roblox—worth over $30 billion and beloved by millions of children—face mounting criticism for adding safety features after the fact, a sequence critics say reveals where priorities were always placed.
- Nex Playground enters the UK market at £269 with a deliberately locked ecosystem: no ads, no in-app purchases, no cloud data, no browser—constraints that are the product's selling point rather than its limitation.
- The console's explosive growth, including a week in which it outsold the PlayStation 5 Slim, signals that parental concern has reached a threshold where it can move markets.
- Nex's leadership is consciously resisting the pressure to scale rapidly or go public, betting that slow, trust-building growth is the only model that keeps their core promise intact.
A new gaming console designed for children aged three to twelve is arriving in British homes this month, and its makers believe parents will choose safety above all else. The Nex Playground launches in the UK at £269, representing the first genuine challenger to the console industry's established order in roughly two decades.
The device runs more than 60 curated games using motion controls detected by a camera, processing everything locally with no cloud uploads, no browser, no ads, and no in-app purchases. It is a locked box by design—and that constraint is exactly what the company believes parents are desperate for. CEO David Lee puts it plainly: the business only survives if parents feel their problems are being solved and stay loyal over time. Rather than recouping losses through advertising or data, Nex prices the console for healthy margins from day one, supplemented by a subscription service called the Play Pass that funds new game development.
The approach has already found its audience in the United States. From 5,000 units at launch in late 2023, the Playground grew to nearly 700,000 by 2025—even outselling Sony's PlayStation 5 Slim for a week. That growth reflects a genuine shift in how parents think about gaming, increasingly seeing mainstream platforms as vectors for harm rather than simple entertainment.
The contrast with Roblox is pointed. Nex president Tom Kang describes the popular platform—dominant among British children aged eight to twelve—as a cautionary tale of safety measures bolted onto a system built for scale and monetization rather than protection. Roblox has responded to scrutiny with age verification tools and enhanced parental controls, and says safety remains a priority. But Kang's argument is less about the adequacy of those measures than about the order in which they arrived.
Nex has no ambition to go public or chase rapid expansion. Gradual growth, its leadership argues, is the only way to build the kind of trust that deepens over time. The console is now available for pre-order in the UK through Amazon, Argos, and Smyths Toys. Whether parents' appetite for a safer alternative can sustain a company that refuses to exploit the children it serves is the question the coming years will answer.
A new gaming console designed specifically for children is arriving in British homes this month, and its makers are betting that parents will choose safety over everything else. The Nex Playground, which launches in the UK on May 18 at £269, represents something the gaming industry hasn't seen in two decades: a genuine newcomer willing to challenge how consoles are built and sold.
The device itself is modest by modern standards. It runs more than 60 games curated for children aged three to 12, relies on motion controls detected through a camera rather than traditional controllers, and processes everything locally on the machine. No video streams to the cloud. No browser. No third-party apps. No advertisements. No in-app purchases. It is, by design, a locked box—and that constraint is precisely what Nex's leadership believes parents are desperate for.
David Lee, the company's CEO, frames this approach as fundamental to how the business survives. "We only have a business if parents are resolving their problems, and stay with us for a very long time," he explained in an interview ahead of the UK launch. The company's economics reflect this philosophy. While most gaming consoles are sold at thin margins or even losses, with manufacturers recouping profit through software sales and advertising data, Nex prices the Playground to generate healthy margins from day one. Five games come bundled with purchase. Additional titles are available through a subscription service called the Play Pass, which funds ongoing game development. The company is deliberately leaving money on the table—no ad revenue, no aggressive monetization—because Lee believes that restraint builds the trust necessary for long-term survival.
This strategy has already proven persuasive in the United States. The console shipped just 5,000 units when it launched in December 2023. By 2025, that number had climbed to nearly 700,000. In November of that year, the Nex Playground outsold Sony's PlayStation 5 Slim Digital Edition for an entire week, according to retail tracking data. The growth reflects a genuine shift in how parents think about gaming devices—less as entertainment platforms and more as potential vectors for harm.
That concern is not abstract. Roblox, the most popular gaming platform among British children aged eight to 12, has drawn scrutiny from online safety experts who point to documented risks: children encountering inappropriate content, communicating with adults online, and exposure to predatory behavior. Roblox Corporation, a publicly traded company worth more than $30 billion, has responded with facial age estimation technology, age-based accounts, and enhanced parental controls. But Tom Kang, Nex's president and head of international, views these additions as symptomatic of a deeper problem. "Retrofitting safeguarding systems like that is the worst thing you could do to a business," he said, describing Roblox as "like a poster child for unsafe." His point is not that Roblox's safety measures are inadequate, but that they arrived late, bolted onto a platform already built for scale and monetization rather than protection.
Nex's alternative is to build safety into the foundation. The company has no intention of pursuing the growth trajectories that define the industry—no hunger for 10 million users next week. Instead, Kang argued, gradual expansion allows for incremental improvements in trust and safety, the kind that come from listening to parents rather than chasing quarterly targets. "We never want to get there," he said of going public. "We want to grow and build that trust that gets stronger over time."
Roblox's representatives countered that safety remains a priority, pointing to their suite of safeguards, including monitored chat with filters designed to block sensitive information and detect attempts to move conversations elsewhere. The company also cooperates with law enforcement.
The Nex Playground is now available for pre-order in the UK through Amazon, Argos, and Smyths Toys. In the United States, it's already on shelves at major retailers. What happens next will test whether parents' appetite for a safer alternative is strong enough to sustain a company that refuses to exploit the very children it serves.
Notable Quotes
We only have a business if parents are resolving their problems, and stay with us for a very long time. We need to build that trust, because that is core of the whole model of how this works.— David Lee, CEO of Nex
Retrofitting safeguarding systems is the worst thing you could do to a business. We want to grow and build that trust that gets stronger over time.— Tom Kang, President and Head of International, Nex
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does a company deliberately leave money on the table? That seems like a business death wish.
Only if you measure success the way the industry always has. Nex's argument is that they can't survive long-term if parents don't trust them. Once you've sold advertising data or let in predatory third parties, that trust is gone. You can't rebuild it.
But Roblox has billions in market value. They're doing fine.
For now. But they're also publicly traded, which means they answer to shareholders who want growth and profit. Nex is betting that the parents who are scared of Roblox will pay a premium for something that never becomes Roblox.
Is that realistic? Can a company really stay small and pure?
That's the question. Nex has grown from 5,000 units to 700,000 in less than two years. At some point, growth pressures become real. The test is whether they can scale without compromising.
What happens if they get acquired by a larger company?
That's the existential risk nobody's talking about. Right now they're independent. But if a Sony or Microsoft comes calling with a billion-dollar offer, the founders have to decide what they actually believe.
And the kids just want to play games, right?
Exactly. The whole thing only works if the games are good enough that children don't notice they're in a walled garden. The safety is invisible to them.