Square Moves into Serious Games Biz

Kotaku has the word that Square/Enix is moving into the 'serious' games market. Serious Games, as they're known, attempt to do more than just entertain. Square has never previously created games for education, and so it's quite notable that company strategist Ichiro Otobe is now slated to give the keynote at this year's GDC Serious Games Summit. From the release: "The serious games market represents a new outlet for our skills as a game developer, and it means that we will be serving totally different customers. As such, there are many different kinds of hurdles that must be cleared in order for it to offer meaningful opportunities. I plan to speak about Square Enix's approach to these challenges, and hopefully provide both business and design inspiration for everyone interested in the uses of games beyond entertainment."

Comments

Re:I really don't think serious games is a good na

[meringuoid]

Games like Civilization and Colonization have done this to some extent for me when I was learning history at school.

Among other things I didn't know before:

- When the Royal Navy used to send gigantic steel warships to shell the crap out of some primitive town from several miles offshore, they had to take precautions against being sunk by the local spearmen.

- The tobacco and cotton plantations of the American colonies were worked mainly by Indian converts and by transported criminals; no slave labour was used at any time.

serious games != edutainment

[phonics]

The "Serious Games" buzzword frequently refers to military training, first responder simulations, interactive political simulations, etc. They are typically not designed to be even remotely entertaining. The phrase is relatively new and should be more like "interactive simulation".

The "Edutainment" buzzword typically refers to K-12 educational games, and simple simulations. It's a pretty old phrase and pretty well understood.

Because Square has no actual *product* it's tough to tell where they lie.