SERIOUS GAMES

Serious Games, also known as games-based learning, is rapidly becoming a very hot topic in training and education.

The West Midlands region, which has long been a hotbed of entertainment games development, is leading the way in terms of both industry applications of Serious Games as well as academic research into the field. To continue to bolster its position as a key driver of the Serious Games industry, the region has invested in an a number of initiatives including the Interactive Digital Media Project, Warwick University’s Digital Laboratory, as well as the Serious Games Institute.

The Serious Games sector, whilst still at an early stage of development, is rapidly growing and being adopted by many organisations of different types and sizes here, in Europe and in the USA. Here are some market figures:

• The market for delivery of training and educational content via computer is growing every year
• Both Gartner and Merrill Lynch estimate that corporate learning and development is one of the fastest-growing sectors of the overall market
• The demand for e-Learning simulations is growing even more rapidly than the overall e-learning market and by 2006 will be worth an annual $6 billion according to US eLearning consultants Brandon-Hall