SERIOUS GAME MARKET

A Record $18.66 Billion Flowed to Game-Based Learning Companies Globally in 2019
ORLANDO -- January 14, 2020 -- Investment in learning technology companies in 2019 blasted past previous highs, reaching $18.66 billion in 2019.

After 2018 surprised the industry, 2019 set another record. And in fact, investments in 2018 and 2019 combined far outstrip the total combined investments made to all ed tech companies during 20-year period between 1998 and 2017, according to serious games analyst firm, Metaari.

Across the globe, almost 900 learning technology companies reported investment. Forty-four companies received more than $100 million in funding in 2019. Of those, 17 were in the U.S. and 12 in China.

A big switch for 2019 was the steep increase in investment in corporate-facing advanced learning technology and higher education products. Investment in preK-12 and parent-facing educational software declined. 
Metaari has just released a free white paper, available at https://seriousplayconf.…

Serious Play Wire, a free news service covering new game-based products, platforms, simulations, technology and software as well as announcements about people, college game programs and analyst reports launches today.
The direct to email news feed is for anyone in the Serious Games Industry: corporate learning officers; government, military and healthcare training professionals; business consultancies; medical, nursing and pharmaceutical school faculty; instructional designers; solution providers; game developers; higher ed faculty; ed tech teachers, school administrators and curriculum designers; students interested in a career in the serious games industry; and VCs and principals of investment firms.
Serious Play Wire is the news source covering the entire Serious Games Industry.
News releases are also searchable under Military/Government, Healthcare, Business, Higher Education and K-12 tracks at www.seriousplaywire.com
FREE SUBSCRIPTION Sign up for a free email subscription here
PAID SER…

I’d like to wish all my friends and colleagues around the world the very best for this festive season!
A Joyful Holiday and a Playful New Year!!!!!!!!

Image credit: 14th Serious Games Showcase & Challenge @ I/ITSEC 2019
The seven categories of SGS&C winners were announced earlier today at the Awards Ceremony in the Innovation Pavilion (Booth 2288). Congrats to all for the superb quality of this year’s submissions!
Here are this year's winners:
Best Government Game - Chain of Command: Capture the Seas by Naval Information Warfare Command PMW-120
Best Business Game - Swibo Tilt by Swibo Ltd.
Best Student Game – SIGNAL by UC Berkeley and the Project on Nuclear Gaming
Best XR Game – VestAid Game Suite by Intelligent Automation, Inc.
Innovation Award – Earth-to-Mars: a VR Serious Game for Leadership by eLearning Studios
Students’ Choice Game – Get a Life by Game-Based Learning, K20 Center The University of Oklahoma
People’s Choice Game – Talon by U.S. Army PEO Aviation Utility Helicopter Project Office UH60

According to an interesting news article posted earlier this month, there is an enormous untapped potential in the Serious Games Market - an underused strategic opportunity for majors and indies.
In a piece for VentureBeat (VB) dated November 12 and titled There’s Serious Potential in Serious Games, Shivani Lamba describes how the world is being transformed by play and how Serious Games are increasingly being used across industries.
“Their influence is being felt across healthcare, where games are delivering neurodevelopmental assessments to children, to defense, where military simulations in virtual reality add an unprecedented, tactile layer to training,” she says.
Founder and CEO at Brightlobe, a startup that is developing a game-based platform to support children’s growth and development, Shivani Lambahighlights the fact that Serious Games are more ambitious than ever, their developer community is growing, and the sector will be worth just over $9 billion by 2023. She cites examples…

A must-read for anyone aspiring to enhance the learning experience for a unique and challenging generation of learners
In this compelling new book Emotify!: The Power of the Human Element in Game-Based Learning, Serious Games and Experiential Education, Dr. Michael Sutton and Kevin Allen walk us though the moment when those at the forefront of education and training knew without doubt that a disruptive value proposition for learning had to be created and deployed.
Departing from an abbreviated narrative of their own learning journeys and accomplished careers, and balancing research with extraordinary pragmatic experience, the authors help us understand how learning comes about when an emotional connection is made and why gameplay is a powerful means to make that connection, giving a better return on learning than any other approach.
A must-read for anyone aspiring to enhance the learning experience for a unique and challenging generation of learners.
Available on Amazon in both Kindle a…