Links
If you'd like to know where our thinking comes from, this is the place to start.
We design our games to tackle aspects of language and reading we think are important. We also try to make them fun. Wherever we end up, though, our starting point is always the mechanics of reading and what the published research says. These are the main sources we've drawn on so far.
The 2025 and 2026 surveys behind our reading-enjoyment and daily-reading figures.
The report naming screen use as a major factor in the decline of children's reading.
The impacts of screen time on education and wellbeing, including smartphone-use and patterns consistent with behavioural addiction.
Deep reading, skimming, and what the digital world does to the reading brain.
Two decades of research on contextual diversity: why encountering rich texts builds word recognition, and why breadth does not mean precision.
How the nature of a writing system shapes the brain's approach to the problem of reading: this is the science beneath the 'Toolkit'.
The key finding that's been replicated: we comprehend and retain less reading from screens than from paper.
Adult literacy trends and international reading assessment, including PISA for Schools (2026).
We've set out what we make of all this in a paper: what's meant by 'the reading crisis', its probable causes, and why we've responded with games. We don't want to start making big claims, just show how we want to be part of a solution to a problem we encounter each day we step into the classroom.
Read the paperThere are plenty of experts working in this field. Here are some of the organisations we like to follow.
The UK's leading literacy charity, and home of the National Year of Reading 2026.
The children's code that guides our no-runtime-AI architecture.
If you'd like to find out more about Phatiks, give us feedback, or add your voice to the conversation, then just drop us an email at hello@phatiks.com, or contact Mark directly at mark@phatiks.com.