Gameindustry.biz has reported on the establishment of the joint developer and publisher DeepWell Digital Therapeutics. Mike Wilson, co-founder of indie publisher Devolver Digital, and Ryan Douglas, founder and former CEO of the international medical device company Nextern, have partnered to create the company. Devolver Digital was born in 2009 to, “embrace the fun in video games”, and, “invite developers from around the world to partner with a team of passionate folk whose sole focus is to make their artistic vision a reality.” Nextern on the other hand, “collaborates with innovators, clinicians, and device partners to create, iterate, optimize, and manufacture best-in-class medical devices.” From fun artistic vision and high end medical devices, DeepWell looks to create and share, “research-driven technologies.”
Video games have often been criticized for a number of reasons such as their violent content and addiction to the games themselves. Wilson acknowledged as much when he said, “Our medium is often harshly judged for its perceived negative impacts on the mind and body.” Wilson went on to speak for the contrary position with a rebuttal of, “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 true.”
Douglas told Mass Device that DeepWell’s priority is, “engaging gameplay [because] without engagement there is no treatment potential for any therapy.” Making what might be considered a bold statement, Douglas asserted that,
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.