A profile of Akili, which makes a US FDA-cleared game designed to treat ADHD in children; Akili raised $160M+ after going public via a SPAC deal in August 2022
The future of video games is about more than just fun. — On the frosty planet of Frigidus, a virtual world full of icy caverns … Tweets: @hallowelltodaro , @gamingthemind , and @jcalpickard Tweets: @hallowelltodaro : “The hope is that between swatting down targets and sliding through power zones, the technology can essentially train patients to stay focused.” A prescription video game for #ADHD? It's not as wild an idea as it seems. via @voxdotcom https://www.vox.com/... @gamingthemind : A look at EndeavorRX, a game licensed in the US as ADHD therapy. There's promising evidence ("the FDA found that the game could facilitate general improvement in attention"), but it's early days ("Attrition could make these kinds of games less effective") https://www.vox.com/... Justin Pickard / @jcalpickard : Games on prescription. “Under the hood are these really complex and beautiful [?] sets of algorithms that are creating stimuli and closed feedback loops to activate a very specific part of the brain.” https://www.vox.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
Akili's profile lands at an inflection point for 'games as medicine': its EndeavorRX holds US FDA clearance as a therapy for children with ADHD, and the company banked $160M+ by going public through an August 2022 SPAC. That clearance separates it from the earlier wave of wellness gamification — apps like SuperBetter promised anxiety relief without clinical validation, as Vox's own coverage noted.
The timing matters because the alternative end of digital ADHD care is under legal pressure: Cerebral and Done built stimulant-prescribing businesses on loose pandemic-era rules and are now facing federal prosecutor interest over possible Controlled Substances Act violations. Akili is positioning on the opposite pole — regulated, cleared, prescription-only.
First-order effects
- Pediatricians and families gain a non-stimulant, FDA-cleared treatment option for childhood ADHD, one Akili can now fund at scale with its post-SPAC war chest.
Second-order effects
- Telehealth prescribers burned by the Cerebral/Done scrutiny have an incentive to route patients toward cleared digital therapeutics like EndeavorRX, shifting demand from loosely governed prescribing toward FDA-gated products.
- Wellness gamification apps face a widening credibility gap: SuperBetter-style effectiveness questions become harder to defend once a rival game carries actual regulatory clearance.
Third-order effects
- The games market splits structurally into two regulated camps — entertainment publishers facing mass-addiction lawsuits versus therapeutics companies whose moat is FDA clearance — reversing the framing of the earlier video game addiction debate, where games were only ever the risk, never the remedy.
The trend: Video games are bifurcating into FDA-regulated medical devices and litigation-exposed entertainment, with regulatory clearance becoming the dividing line.