Big Business Loves the Computer Gaming Industry

David Greenspan writes "Video games are no longer exclusive to a consumer market. Business Week has an article on the new trend of big business willing to pay millions for custom-made games. The casual market has inspired folks in business to realize the broad appeal of games, and some of the possibilities inherent to the medium. As a result, business games are now big business. From the article: 'To reach the billion-dollar mark, the market will have to overcome the common wisdom that games are inherently not serious. A serious games market will also require game developers to shift from the traditional business-to-consumer model to a business-to-business one. Today when major studios and publishers are approached by companies interested in commissioning, say, an employee-training game based on a successful commercial title, more often than not those studios and publishers decline. Even if the interested company is offering $5 million, it's not worth the gamemakers' time to divert engineers from a commercial title likely to generate hundreds of millions of dollars in sales.'"

Re:first post

[Night Goat]

The logic makes sense to me. Now, back to flipping through Muscle & Fitness Magazine! God, those guys are BUILT!

Salesman: Blood Money

[PJ1216]

I can't wait for the business training game, Salesman: Blood Money, where you play as Mr. 47, a genetically engineered salesman, created from the DNA of the five more dangerous salesmen.

Well why not???

[LordPhantom]

Why not produce those games? For example, a lawyer training game based upon something like Resident Evil or BloodRayne - they're already disease-infested vampires, it should require virtually -no- changes!

Make training fun!

[HitekHobo]

I can already see the Doom clone for customer service reps.

1) Customer lures you in with the promise of an easy frag. - "I can't get my email."
2) Customer side steps your opening salvo - "Yes, my computer is plugged in."
3) You run out of ammo while the customer bunny hops towards you. - "I have just tried telnetting to port 110 on pop.yourcompany.com and recieved a timeout. I then tried a traceroute and can't reach your facility."
4) Customer drops a grenade on your head - "No, I think it could be the power outage in your data center that is being reported on CNN right now."
5) You respawn in the middle of 10 customers holding grenades. - "Somebody turn on the ambush for God's sake!"

Re:Serious business?

[cHALiTO]

Even better, consider war games, or a nice game of chess.

I'd throw in tic-tac-toe in there, just in case ;)

Re:Too dry, but i agree.

[FiveDollarYoBet]

Synergy Enhancers!

Re:Learning tool indead

[Anonymous Coward]

Face it, the sysadmin will NEVER get the girl at the end of the game. The closest would be to find a user's pron stash.

Re:Name change

[andphi]

This Software Was Made For Business

Rated M for Mature:
For Real-world situations, Work-like Environment, Frequent Interruptions, and Panic-inducing Deadlines.

Rated AO for Adults Only:
Portrays Double-Entry Accounting and Enforces GAAP

Re:Too dry, but i agree.

[vigmeister]

Rainbow Six Sigma

'nuff said

Cheers!

Re:Serious business?

[Chris Burke]

I thought Serious Sam settled this whole "games can't be serious" business a long time ago. Sam was very serious. The engine for the game was serious too.

Croteam was ahead of their time in more ways than one; they'd seen the need for seriousness in the games industry, and they provided it in spades.

Re:Name change

[Anonymous Coward]

The only thing that separates Graphic Novels from Comic Books is the price.

Re:Cereal Phlegm Monsters

[Radical Moderate]

So you're saying it's a wad of phlegm?

Some Employee Training Games I'd Like to See

[skeevy]

How to find the meeting room:

>you are in a twisty maze of cubicles, all alike

How to navigate the HR benefits phone tree:

>you are in a twisty maze of indecipherable options, all alike

How to navigate the office supply procurement web site:

>you are in a twisty maze of unusable web pages, all alike