Half of all the game studios in the Netherlands are involved in the development of
serious games. In other countries, the emphasis lies much more on
entertainment, but the Dutch have discovered the power and effectiveness of
serious gaming. Education is the largest market in the Netherlands for serious
games, followed by healthcare. Other sectors where they have a role include
public safety, the financial industry, advertising, government and the media. For
a
first
impression,
take
a
look
at
the
following
video:
http://www.g4appliedgames.com/
Meet the Dutch players
Four leading applied game companies in the Netherlands - Grendel Games, Little
Chicken Game Company, Ranj and IJsfontein - have joined forces under the name
‘G4 applied games consortium’. All but Grendel are HKU University of the Arts
Utrecht alumni companies. Their combined portfolio makes them a global leader
and their games have won various awards, including the Japan Prize, a BAFTA
and European Innovative Game Awards.
Grendel Games recently developed Underground, a training game that
allows surgeons to practice laparoscopic surgery. Doctors who had
Underground training before their first operation showed better motor
skills than doctors who hadn’t played the game. The game was developed
for the University Medical Center Groningen which later became an official
partner.
CRAFT is one of the educational games created by Little Chicken.
Vocational college students following a ‘mechatronics’ programme play the
game during class and at the end of the two-year game they are skilled
enough to start out in the field. Little Chicken also has major global brands
as clients, including Heineken, ING and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, as well
as leading medical institutes such as the Academic Medical Center in
Amsterdam.
Ranj Serious Games from Rotterdam develops games for professional
development and healthcare. Examples include a recruitment game about
oil exploration risk for Shell, a game about collaboration for financial
institutes and a game that teaches children with ADHD how to plan and
manage their time.
IJsfontein’s simulation game Into d’Mentia allows healthy people to
experience dementia and leads to a much better understanding of the
disease. The Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam collaborated with
IJsfontein to develop what they dubbed the abcdeSIM. ER doctors need to
make split-second decisions about which patients to treat first. To do so,
they use the ABCDE method: check the patient’s Airway, whether they’re
Breathing, and work their way down the alphabet. IJsfontein developed an
app to train the hospital’s medical staff. It has proved so successful that
the hospital has accredited the app as an official training method.
There are, however, many more Dutch success stories. Vstep and E-Semble both
create training and simulation games specialising in disaster and calamity
training for the emergency services. Groningen-based Studio Bleep developed an
app that helps children in hospital overcome their fears. Happitech created the
world’s first mobile heart rate game. Together with Utrecht-based Virtual Play,
they are currently working on a wrist fracture rehabilitation game. The game has
been commissioned by the Academic Medical Center Amsterdam but will be
released worldwide.
The Dutch ministry of defence is using war simulations based on real missions to
train and educate its troops. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines developed a game for
online interaction with their fans and clients. The game enables the player to run
their own airline and generates huge amounts of insights into customer wishes,
demands and ideas.
Finally, the Netherlands is also leading in the development of apps and games for
the media, tv and film sector. Examples include creative digital production
company Media Monks, which is currently producing games for Google’s
Chromecast. Ex Machina creates apps and games for big tv shows such as the
Voice of Holland and Game of Thrones. Utrecht-based Sticky Studios develops
and publishes games for film studios including Disney.
Utrecht: creative game development capital of the Netherlands
Some 50% of Dutch game developers were educated in Utrecht, highlighting the
city’s excellent facilities. Utrecht University offers a bachelor’s degree in Game
Technology, a master’s in Game and Media Technology, and a minor in Game
Studies. HKU University of the Arts Utrecht offers several bachelor programmes,
including Game Design, Game Art, Game Development and Interaction Design.
Monkeybizniz, started by a HKU graduate, is one of the frontrunners in
incorporating game innovation in healthcare. The world of difference is an online
place for children who have lost their parents to share emotions. LUTS, a game to
motivate children with continence problems, was designed for the University
Medical Center Utrecht.
Woerden-based company Silverfit specialises in applied rehabilitation games for
the care of the elderly. Silverfit also developed the hugely successful game
Rephagia, to help people with swallowing difficulties (dysphagia).
Gainplay Studio is a pioneer in game design for bio- and neuro-feedback and has
worked with the University Medical Center Utrecht to develop a game called
Daydream. Daydream trains the player to better concentrate, focus and relax
using a natural ever-changing musical environment that continuously adapts to
the user’s brainwaves. Another game they created is called Moodbot, an online
environment to help psychiatric patients to get involved in their own treatment
process. The aim is to increase their motivation while reducing doctors’ workload.
QLVR develops applied games and apps for health and learning. An alliance with
the University Medical Center Utrecht led to a game that helps heart patients take
their medications properly.
Bureau Blauwgeel’s game Molecular City teaches chemistry. Hubbub is an
international design studio specialised in new games for social change. Inchainge
develops simulations and learning programmes for use in supply chain
management and finance.
The Active Cues Tovertafel (magic table) created by Monobanda stimulates
people in the mid to late stages of dementia to perform physical and cognitive
activities and social interaction. It is a validated product that dramatically
improves the lives of these patients.
Knowledge Institutes & Platforms in the Utrecht region:
Utrecht University is the centre of gravity in the academic aspects of the
field, offering a PhD programme ‘Game Research’. Among the research
currently being undertaken is the digital simulation of crowds: how do you
make a group of avatars look realistic while moving? The university’s
Motion Capture Lab tracks and recognises real-time 3D posing. This
technique can be applied to entertainment and rehabilitation games as well
as animation.
The Games and Interaction research group attached to HKU University of
the Arts Utrecht works on innovation in the design of games and
interaction.
Value Center Applied Games (VCAG) is a platform for cooperation, the
exchange of knowledge and the scientific validation of game concepts and
methods in sectors as diverse as healthcare, education and safety. The
CAG is an alliance between the HKU University of the Arts Utrecht, Dutch
Game Garden and the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific
Research (TNO).
TNO has a strong international position in simulation technology and
applies this knowledge in particular in the areas of defence and safety. War
Child, TNO, the Ahfad University in Khartoum and game developer
Flavour recently developed eLearning Sudan. In this game, Sudanese
children learn mathematics without a teacher, in their own village. They do
this with tablet computers, instructional videos and customised interactive
games based on the national curriculum of Sudan.
U CREATE, a centre of expertise for the creative industry, is an alliance
between the University of Applied Sciences Utrecht, HKU University of the
Arts Utrecht and University Medical Center Utrecht. Its goal is to match
creatives with the cure and care industry in order to find cures and
solutions to health issues.
The Utrecht Center for Game Research and Technology, which is part of
Utrecht University, focuses its interdisciplinary research primarily on the
design and development of engaging games, the study of users and usage,
the validation of the effectiveness and efficiency of serious games, and
interpreting the cultural contexts of digital games and play. They also work
closely with the Utrecht Valorisation Center to make academic knowledge
commercially viable.
The Dutch Society for Simulation in Healthcare offers serious game
companies feedback from medical professionals and acknowledges firstrate serious games with a quality label.
Serious game conferences
Utrecht also hosts Games for Health Europe, the largest serious game conference
in Europe. Building on the successful editions in Boston (US), Games for Health
reached Europe in 2011. Games for Health Europe aims to bring serious gaming
and healthcare together across Europe. In 2015, the Control Conference also
added a serious game track to its annual meeting.
Your contact
Ardi Eleveld, Foreign Investor Relations Manager
ICT & Gaming
[email protected] +31 6 18 30 05 88