Ask developers or investors if there is more money pouring into or being generated by learning games and the answer is a definitive yes. Ask how much and the answers get a bit more complicated. For years, market watchers and learning game advocates have sought that magic number, but the difficulty of coming up with it has a lot to do with definitions. Ambient Research tracks the learning game and serious games industry for years. Their reporting has become almost the gold standard in the learning game industry for its clarity of methodology and consistency of reporting. Ambient Insight has decided to track game-based learning as a branch of the education field rather than analyzing it as a part of the video game industry. That market, according to one recent Report from DFC Intelligence, is slated to top $70 billion this year, but Ambient has instead focused on the more specific game-based learning market. According to their analysis, worldwide sales of game-based learning products hit $1.7 billion in 2013. Ambient Insight sees a more modest growth rate of about 6.7 percent and sees the overall industry reaching $2.4 billion by 2018.
A report from Research and Markets projected a growth 8.5 percent in the global game-based learning market, with one of their analysts pointing to yet another driving force in the sector, saying, “One major trend emerging in this market is the growth of the gamification market. Several gaming enterprises in the Education sector are realizing the importance of rewards and incentives, and are incorporating engagement programs into their games.” But no matter how people slice the learning games market a clear growth pattern emerges in all of their analyses. Markets in North America and Asia both show continued growth and much of the expected interest is in the expanding world of mobile. And although you can quibble with methodologies and definitions around what is or is not a learning game, one thing has become clear in the last 18 months, investment is flowing to the learning game sector. The number is particularly impressive given that last year the total investment in this space reached just north of $2.4 billion for the entire year. In addition to projecting the industry growth, Ambient Insight has also been tracking a number that needs no projection – investment in the learning games sector. And here, the numbers are clear.
Investments made to learning technology companies across the globe reached an astonishing $1.12 billion in the first quarter of 2015. This is the first time in the history of the learning technology industry that investments topped the $1 billion threshold in a single quarter, was stated in the Ambient Insight Q1 / 2015 Report. China is driving the growth in the first three months of 2015. The major patterns in the investment activity in China are the funding going to new Mobile Learning companies and the investments flowing into traditional online learning companies that intend to use the funds to expand their catalog with Mobile Learning. Investors are particularly attracted to companies that develop mobile English language learning apps and mobile edugames for young children.
First see at and more Information: GamesandLearning (Lee Banville)
