REVIEW article
Front. Sports Act. Living
Sec. Sports Science, Technology and Engineering
This article is part of the Research TopicEvaluating Exergames: Impacts on Physical Health and Activity LevelsView all 3 articles
Effectiveness of active video games for promoting physical activity: An umbrella review
Provisionally accepted
Víctor Juan Vera-Ponce1*
Jhosmer Ballena-Caicedo1Fiorella E. Zuzunaga-Montoya2Carmen Inés Gutierrez De Carrillo1- 1Universidad Nacional Toribio Rodríguez de Mendoza, Chachapoyas, Amazonas, Peru
- 2Universidad Continental, Huancayo, Peru
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Introduction: Active video games (AVG) have emerged as a potential strategy to combat global physical inactivity, transforming sedentary screen time into physical activity. However, the evidence on their effectiveness remains fragmented and heterogeneous. Objective: To synthesize the available evidence from systematic reviews on the effectiveness of active video games for promoting physical activity in different populations. Methods: An Umbrella Review (UR) was developed following PRIOR guidelines. Six databases were searched until April 2025. Systematic reviews that evaluated AVG and physical activity were included. Methodological quality was assessed with AMSTAR 2 and certainty of evidence with GRADE. Two independent reviewers performed selection and data extraction. Results: Twenty systematic reviews were included encompassing 418 unique primary studies with >180,000 participants. The most studied platforms were Nintendo Wii (16 reviews), Xbox Kinect (11 reviews), Dance Dance Revolution (8 reviews) and Pokémon Go (3 reviews). AVG consistently achieved light-moderate intensity (3-6 metabolic equivalents or METs) during gameplay. The overall effect was moderate (Hedges g=0.525, 95%CI: 0.322-0.728) but with high heterogeneity (I²>75%). Older adults showed the most consistent benefits (effect size [ES]=0.64-0.68 muscle strength; ES=0.79 cardiorespiratory fitness) with high certainty. Only 23% of interventions showed sustained post-intervention effects. Methodological heterogeneity was extreme: different metrics such as METs, moderate-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), steps/day; instruments (accelerometers, calorimetry, questionnaires) and protocols (single sessions to 48 weeks). Only 30% of reviews systematically reported adverse events. Conclusions: AVG are effective for promoting physical activity during their use, especially in older adults and overweight individuals. However, the lack of methodological standardization makes it impossible to establish specific recommendations. Consensus on measures and protocols is urgently required to realize the potential of AVG as a public health tool.
Keywords: Video Games, Exercise, Motor Activity, Physical Fitness, Systematic review
Received: 15 Sep 2025; Accepted: 31 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Vera-Ponce, Ballena-Caicedo, Zuzunaga-Montoya and Gutierrez De Carrillo. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Víctor Juan Vera-Ponce, victor.vera@untrm.edu.pe
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.