The Video Games Advancing Eye Health for Better Vision Outcomes
March 2025 Zachary Russell
Knowing more about eye care can help you safeguard your vision. A 2022 study published by the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) found that in the US alone, only 12% of the population had an adequate understanding of various eye conditions—and this lack of eye health literacy is why fewer people in the country seek eye care. As a result, the US is seeing poorer eye health outcomes. According to the CDC, four in ten American adults are now considered to have a high risk of developing vision loss.
Ultimately, the researchers behind the AAO study concluded that concerned eye health actors should develop exciting, engaging ways to boost eye health awareness and encourage the best eye care practices—not just in the US but worldwide. Those actors rose to the occasion by tapping into a medium so many people love: video games.
Here are a few that are advancing eye health for better vision outcomes:
Eye Odyssey
To promote a better understanding of eye health, LensCrafters—one of the US’ largest eyewear retailers—partnered with none other than Roblox to create a video game called Eye Odyssey. The second season in the series, titled LensCrafters Eye Odyssey: World of Optics, encourages players to join and assist the friendly character Blinky through a fantasy map, in which they’ll face multiple arcade-style mini-games that illustrate today’s most common eye health challenges.
Throughout the experience, Blinky will highlight some of the best eye care practices players can practice in real life. That includes booking a regular eye exam on the official LensCrafters site. On said website, users can look up the city, state, or zip code needed to set an appointment at their local LensCrafters, which Blinky will encourage as a way to have their eyesight evaluated to preserve their long-term vision. Other tips Blinky promotes include the 20-20-20 rule, which is touted as one of the most effective ways to relieve eye strain caused by excess screen time.
METEOR BLASTER
METEOR BLASTER is an innovative mobile game developed by scientists from Japan’s Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine in partnership with Sendai Broadcasting Co., Ltd. At first glance, it doesn’t look like it’s designed to promote better eye health. After all, it’s a classic space shooter game — all you need to do is blast meteors and collect power-ups along the way. After just five minutes of gameplay, however, METEOR BLASTER can actually detect signs of glaucoma—-one of the world’s leading causes of blindness that occurs due to optic nerve damage. The app strictly asks you to keep your phone 30 centimeters, or roughly 12 inches, away from your eyes, then has you play four game stages with 16 sections before giving you your final score. That score will let you know if you need to get your eyes checked for glaucoma. This is particularly crucial since the disease exhibits virtually no symptoms in its early stages, showing just how well video games can work to improve vision outcomes.
The Lazy Eye Tetris
Even some of history’s iconic games have been leveraged to boost eye health outcomes. The Lazy Eye Tetris is yet another mobile video game—but rather than detect signs of an eye condition, it can go further by treating it. Players with the Duovision app can wear anaglyph glasses (3D glasses), then play The Lazy Eye Tetris just like they would the classic game’s regular counterpart. The concept of using Tetris for amblyopia was developed by researchers at McGill University more than a decade ago. They found that the game’s mechanics helped strengthen an amblyopia patient’s weaker eyes to improve their overall condition. However, 3D glasses are necessary because they isolate what each eye sees. This concept has since been used in other amblyopia treatment innovations, including Israeli startup Novasight’s Curesight eye-tracking glasses. Though tinted like 3D glasses, their lenses can individually track each eye to mark the weaker one’s improvement throughout treatments like playing Tetris.
As we can see from these examples, different game art styles can significantly impact the end product. While each game may aim to improve players’ eye health, it does so with unique approaches and creative decisions that keep the game environment engaging for players. Moving forward, we will likely see more games designed to address eye health in a fun way.
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