A few weeks ago, on LinkedIn, I wrote: “The future of fitness looks like a game.”

Since that post generated a lot of interest, today, we’re exploring the intersection of fitness and gaming in more detail.

Game On

From Foursquare to Facebook and Duolingo to Robinhood, everyday activities like going to the coffee shop or trading stocks have been gamified.

Technically speaking, gamification applies game-like mechanics to non-game scenarios. In practice, tactics like points, badges, and competition are employed to engage and retain users.

The fitness world is no stranger to this trend. Fitbit users strive for 10K steps. Apple Watch nudges users to closing activity rings. Giving “kudos” on Strava keeps people coming back. And Peloton’s leaderboard is so valuable they sued Flywheel to protect it.

Likewise, other aspects of wellness have followed suit. Calm is essentially a mindfulness game. WHOOP scores sleep and recovery. And intermittent fasting app Zero expertly leverages streaks.

Interestingly, gamification has become table stakes and a target of criticism.

In a 2010 TED Talk, game designer Jane McGonigal credited gaming with making the world a better place. Conversely, fellow game designer Ian Bogost said “gamification is bullshit.”

A different perspective still, Yu-kai Chou, an expert in the field, prefers the term “human-focused design” to gamification.

More recently, distinguishing between gamification and game design has been a point of emphasis.

Rahul Vohra, CEO of email client Superhuman, flat out said gamification doesn’t work.

“Game design is not gamification. It is not simply taking your product and adding points, levels, trophies, and badges… To create games, we have to draw upon the art and science of psychology, mathematics, interaction design, and storytelling.”

Vohra goes on to explain that Superhuman’s game is designed around goals, emotions, controls, toys, and flow.

While there are many different frameworks for game design, the point remains: Engineering game-like experiences is more powerful than gamified gimmicks.

Back to the Future

The pandemic was a windfall for exercise apps and connected equipment makers, creating a workout-from-home gold rush.

Smart bikes and interactive classes were all the rage. But they certainly aren’t new.

In the early ’90s, SEGA released the HeartBeat Personal Trainer, a bundle that included a game console, handheld controls, movement tracking sensors, and heart rate monitoring.

Around the same time, Life Fitness debuted the Exertainment System — a stationary bike that connected to a Nintendo console, complete with controls on the handlebars, heart rate tracking, and fitness tests.

Founded in 2003, Expresso Fitness sells an exercise bike loaded with interactive games in the commercial market. After raising $50M before going bankrupt, the company was then acquired by Interactive Fitness Holdings. Now, Expresso is retooling with Zwift’s former vice president of direct-to-consumer at the helm.

Then there was Nintendo Wii. The gaming console sold 100M units and 83M copies of Wii Sports. Not purely a fitness device, it was marketed as promoting physical activity. But Wii’s run came to an end in 2011, when it was discontinued.

Fitness 3.0

Jumping ahead to the present day, part of at-home fitness 3.0, gaming-inspired options are moving the industry beyond competition-based or instructor-led options alone.

1.0. Jane Fonda, Bowflex, P90X
2.0. Connected hardware, live/on-demand classes
3.0. Fitness is a game

Zwift. A fitness company born out of gaming, Zwift has raised more than $600M to create virtual worlds for runners and cyclists. On the Fitt Insider podcast, Zwift CEO Eric Min said: “We want to entertain you, and the outcome is fitness.”

Liteboxer. An interactive at-home boxing experience, Liteboxer CEO Jeff Morin told us: “We’re trying to hack the brain… where your mind and body get into this flow state. Time flies by, and the pain you normally experience when working out is replaced by joy.”

Ergatta. According to CEO Tom Aulet, this connected rower has a different take on content: “It will not always be instructors, it will be gaming.” Ergatta is building “the best mainstream gaming platform,” says Aulet. “…it is part video game, part sports.” 

Playpulse. Aiming to turn fitness into “fun and games for everyone,” Playpulse recently debuted its gaming bike. A modern version of the Life Fitness Exertainment bike, Playpulse offers video games, fitness programs, and streaming content.

Quell. Billed as “Real fitness. Real gaming.”, Quell users box their way through a fantasy world. A wearable of sorts, the company offers a vest equipped with resistance bands and sensors paired with video game-like content streamed to a screen of choice.

The New Paradigm

In Issue No. 90, The Metaverse of Fitness, we wrote: “The future of fitness looks more like Fortnite than Peloton.”

Along those lines, consulting firm Activate said “gaming is the new technology paradigm,” where everything from live events to shopping will take place inside of games. And fitness is no exception.

A step further, while VR hasn’t quite lived up to the hype, VR workouts caught on during the pandemic.

According to Chris Milk, the CEO of Supernatural — a subscription-based virtual reality exercise experience, “Fitness is the killer use case for VR.”

As Milk sees it, connected fitness layers entertainment on top of exercise “to distract you from the thing that you’re doing that is not fun on its own.” Alternatively, he said, Supernatural is merging entertainment and exercise:

“We set out to build something that was intrinsically fun, intrinsically entertainment, and something you wanted to do over and over again that had the extra benefit of exercise because that’s the thing that makes it easy to keep coming back to.”

Elsewhere, FitXR is vying to become the “virtual fitness club” of the future. Facebook-owned Oculus added fitness tracking to its headset as the parent company plans a health monitoring smartwatch. Apple is working on a secretive AR/VR headset that could pair with Fitness+. And who knows—this VR treadmill could be next.

Zooming out: As Andreessen Horowitz partner Chris Dixion put it, “The next big thing will start out looking like a toy.”

Time will tell. But for now, onlookers and operators likely fall into two camps: those who think gaming is a gimmick and others who believe it’s the future.