What is the Nex Playground console? And how can you get one?

The Nintendo Switch 2 is the hottest video game console of the 2025 holiday season... or so we thought. Recently, Nintendo has been facing some competition from an unexpected source — a brand called Nex.

Recent sales data show that a "new" entrant has overtaken heavyweights like the PlayStation 5 in the U.S. market. Specifically, we're talking about the Nex Playground, a little box that, according to games industry analyst Mat Piscatella on Bluesky, outsold the PS5 in late November in the U.S. The Switch 2 bundle with Mario Kart World was the top overall seller, but the Nex Playground made its mark and raised a lot of eyebrows by showing up on the list at all, especially since it launched back in 2023.

One important note: Piscatella's sales numbers break down sales by SKU, and PlayStation 5 consoles are sold under multiple SKUs based on the type of console (digital or disc), whether it's part of a bundle, and internal memory. Still, Nex's numbers are much higher than expected.

Mashable Light Speed

US best-selling hardware SKUs for week ending Nov 22, 2025, ranked on units sold: 1) NS2 Mario Kart World Bundle 2) NEX Playground Interactive Gaming System 3) PS5 Slim Digital 1 TB So that's neat. Source: Circana Retail Tracking Service
— Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) December 3, 2025 at 5:25 PM

So, what the heck is a Nex Playground? Put simply, it's a spiritual successor to the old Xbox Kinect, which used the motion generated by players' bodies for input instead of a traditional controller. Nex Playground appears to be hyper-targeted at kids and families, and that seems to be working, based on sales data. According to IGN, it has a bunch of games based on properties like How to Train Your Dragon and Peppa Pig, as well as some more adult-oriented fitness games.

Where to buy the Nex Playground

If that sounds appealing to you, you can get one for $249.99 at basically every major retailer. However, the Nex website notes that stock is limited at Target, and we found limited availability at Amazon as well. If you want to find the Nex Playground console in stock, it seems like Walmart and Best Buy are your best bet at the time of publication.

I have to admit that, even as someone who covers video games for a living, I had no idea the Nex Playground existed. If I had kids, though, I'd definitely consider getting one.