Using video games as a remedy for addictions is the idea presented by Bewe Lab. Present at Vivatech, the Swiss startup demonstrated its Bewe application that aims to reduce food addictions of its users.
To achieve this, take the form of a video game that uses the repetition of the movements. These essays aim to divert users of fatty or sweet foods, largely considered responsible for overweight and obesity.
A side effect originally
At the origin of the project, Lucas Spierer, director of the Neuroscience Research Laboratory of the University of Friborg, sought to develop an interface used for the rehabilitation of the Motors after AVC. Then he will create Neuria, Bewe’s ancestor, who did not intend to become an application to combat addictions.
During the tests, the team “realized that there were large side effects in patients,” explains Tech & Co Barnabé Dearze, in charge of the company’s business development. “They observed changes in their preferences with respect to the objects that appeared on the screen.”
This discovery redirected the team’s research axis. Therefore, he tried to exploit this potential to influence user food consumption mode.
A video game as an interface
When we first turn on Bewe, the user must select the foods that he would like to reduce their consumption: hamburgers, soft drinks, kebabs, etc. After making your decisions, the game begins.
The interface then separates into two. In the upper part, healthy foods (vegetables, fruits) or addictive foods that have previously been chosen. On the ground floor, we will find different games, such as a brilliant switch, for example.
You will have to shoot healthy foods and not touch fat and sweet foods. This will create a bullet in the branch of the brightness located at the bottom of the screen.
The application works with a progression and skills improvement system. The objective is to “make the game fun enough for people to return, but we are not trying to make it addictive,” Barnabé Dearze specifies.
Before its launch, the Swiss startup plans to implement other mini -games, as well as add other dishes to the list of foods considered addictive and harmful.
Test to deter
The video game only accompanies the interface by adding a playful dimension. Taking or leaving food remains the action that will have a real impact on the patient.
A flagship example is the case of a patient who drank almost a liter and a half of soft drinks per day. After spending several weeks in the application, “I was completely disgusted with soft drinks,” he says.
Bewe plans to reach application stores in early 2026. In the future, the company even seeks to diversify the addictions that it wants to fight by including “tobacco, alcohol or sweet drugs.” To see, if the application will have a real impact on the methods of consumption of its users.
Source: BFM TV
