Official Session Name: (9am)
The Serious Games Market : Segment Size (and Where Opportunity Lies)
Summary:
Marketing folks rambled about marketing crap, and I worried I was at the wrong conference (until a following session, where I confirmed I was in the right place).
Ecampus Takeaway:
The interesting thing about this conference was how it threw such a diverse group into the same room (from corporate training tool marketers to educational researchers to military contractors).
Raw Notes:
(this session took place in a large room, after some brief introductions of conference organizers. There were no competing sessions)
Market size panel. …
Tom grant couldn’t make it apparently. Kevin Oakes starts (because he has no slides). … yawn. giving overview…
“Games based learning market reached 230 million by 2010.” 80% of revenue is from preschool through 2nd grade, and adult learning (brain training)… notes that 2008 saw huge spike in simulation learning investment. 2010 was first year games based learning investments surpassed simulation (but both were much smaller).
“investors like to see proof points” … Maybe Ecampus marketing folks should have come to this…
Institute of Play sounds interesting. Did some interesting research in new York. Created Gamestar mechanic. Note: Look into what they do and what the lady who founded it does. Idea is: kids building systems for games is powerful. …
Talks about their idea of applying lessons learned from gaming sector to edu learning. … Free to play idea… notes instructors going online looking for free tools to help them…
?:
Seem to be tons of grants and competitions in game development and game based learning. How does one keep track of them?
A lot of “vertical growth” in healthcare. … (I expect this marketing speak will flip over my head. A lot.)
Alan takes quick hand survey. Mentions the conference appears to be mostly developers and publishers. Not a lot of buyers.
Q: Who uses gamestar mechanic at school?
A: Usually the computer lab teacher. But others often share the computer lab. Notes that having the student design the system is great for understanding the underlying systems.
An Educator asks about tech for middle school high school and higher Ed. Like interactive 3d projectors. no great answer… (kinda shot down for asking?)
Uh… The lady assumes everyone is from Washington? (mentioned some Washington specific terminology. either a place or a term or a government program or something)… huh. … Alan mentions “small lab” at… Some joint. “Strong efficacy in small research environment, but no mechanism to scale.” No business to help them.
Tyson says you can gauge the speed of market growth by looking at how kids are using technology. Growth is based on the audience(s).
Kevin talks about homeruns being based on group activity. User generated content. Maybe he is just blowing smoke?
A curious idea for online learning (where group work is harder).
Alan notes the need to get game people over into the serious sim market to generate more quality/growth.
Military and pharma are investing hugely in this sector. But corporate is slow to move.
?: Why? And what other areas are lagging?
… Tyson seems to contradict him, saying corporate sector is big into distance learning.
(end)
Check Back Later For:
Edits to the text? maybe some photos of the room?
(probably no need to check back later on this blog entry, really. hit me up if you actually have any questions about marketing)
