Imagine this: You tell your doctor that you're struggling with stress, and she sends you home with instructions to play videogames every week. Even better, your health insurance is going to cover a subscription to the game service, and maybe even a VR headset to play them on. That's the vision of Seattle-based company Deepwell DTx, and it's making real progress: The company's biofeedback software development kit for games just received FDA clearance for "over-the-counter treatments for the reduction of stress and as an adjunctive treatment for high blood pressure."
Deepwell co-founder Ryan Douglas doesn't just think the news is good for patients (and certain medical device entrepreneurs), but also for gamers and game developers. Introducing games to the world's trillions of dollars in healthcare spending can "bring us back to the golden age of gaming," he said on a call with me last week.
