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Economic Turmoil and Serious Games


I must confess I had not dedicated too much thought to the impact of the recent economic turmoil on Serious Games market size until some of my Blog readers brought this up.

My latest post on the subject
Reconciling Serious Games Market Size Different Estimates, projecting the figures for the Serious Games market size short term, have probably become obsolete – at least in terms of "timing". As we know, in a scenario of contingent budgets, organizations tend to defer discretionary costs.

My best guess at this point:

  • Major impact would be felt by the projects that either require significant investment in infrastructure or can not demonstrate immediate value creation, especially in the corporate training segment.
  • In defense applications and game-like simulations for medical training (e.g., training for surgery, for emergency medical response, and for managing surgical teams), such expenditure could be justified, since the cost of mistakes in these areas would far outweigh the cost of Serious Games adoption.
  • Academic education would have a lower impact, due to its long term implications.
  • Moving away from the-work-for-hire model to a large-scale-distribution model, enabled by COTS and leading to exponential growth for the segment, could feel the effects of a global slowdown.

The Upside


Given recent history, slowdowns would appear to be part of the global economy. During a slowdown, it is even more important for companies to continue innovating in their respective markets.

Delivering value in the workplace has been a consistent theme for debate over the last years. In the wake of the financial turmoil and economic uncertainties we are currently experiencing, demonstrating value has become a necessity rather than a nice to have approach.


This could translate into more robust propositions for Serious Games adoption mid term.