Bringing Game-Based Learning to Scale: The Business Challenges of Serious Games

Abstract

This article examines business challenges that prevent educational games from finding wider penetration into (1) the general consumer market and (2) the K-12 formal education market. Contrary to popular belief, neither lack of product, nor boring subject matter, nor a more modest expenditure on game development keeps learning games from attracting a significant audience in these markets. Interviews with companies that have attempted to work these markets show that they face three primary challenges: finding a sustainable (revenue-generating) business model, creating or obtaining a distribution network, and achieving consumer acceptance. Obstacles include identifying an appropriately large paying customer base (though adult learners/hobbyists may prove to be a lucrative niche market); finding monetary support for consumer hardening, marketing, and sales (U.S. grants, in particular, do not allow these cost categories); and creating a functional distribution network into K-12 schools (where attempts to partn...