It is unsurprising to me that if you manage to have fun with a video game, you feel less depressed.

I suppose it might be slightly more surprising that it’s more effective than treatments designed to treat depression directly, but we’re talking about an industry that exists almost solely to make people feel happier, and it doesn’t make money unless it succeeds. One could argue about addictive mechanics, but most people wouldn’t even start on that path unless it brought them happiness in the beginning.

Waiting until the end of the article to point out it wasn’t a blind study is kinda annoying tbh

A recent study found that “Super Mario Odyssey” reduced depression symptoms more than cognitive training or standard treatments

The N-value was pretty low, only 46 participants divided to three groups, so one can’t draw too many definitive conclusions from this study. Also their findings were reduced symptoms. If your house is on fire and you figure out a way to reduce the amount of smoke, it will appear as if your house is less on fire. Still, interesting results which implies that games could be used as part of a treatment.

with participants showing higher motivation

They found out that people like playing video games more than going to a psychiatrist.