I was in EB the other day and I noticed that the current state of the gaming market place is a sad state of affairs when it comes to the realm of educational kids games.
If you do somehow even manage to find them, they most likely be on the bottom shelf, pushed off to the side or to the back or in some kind of bargain bin. Ever wonder why this is the case? It’s simple retail, products that are popular and sell, get prime placement.
This got me thinking, so why aren’t these games popular with the kids and managing to find there way to the checkout. There are some people out there that believe learning and fun are mutually exclusive, but anyone that knows me, I simply don’t believe this to be the case. Compared to the games put out by Blizzard, EA and other big gaming companies, the educational market is quite small.
So, in this small market place, there aren’t actually very many companies anymore who produce educational games to create worthwhile content for kids anymore. What ever happened to Carmen Sandiego and all those Reader Rabbits etc.
I am dismayed sometimes when I think of all the resources, time and talent that goes into big ticket games aimed at kids that have absolutely no educational content to it. Don’t get me wrong I applaud the success these companies have been able to achieve in these markets, but I wonder sometimes what could happen if they decided to use these powers to make something worthwhile.
It dawned on me that the big game companies have no interest in the educational market, nothing personal, it’s just too small for them to really care. So why do kids play games with increasing violence and morally questionable content?
So, after working at my current job, it made me think, what can we offer up for a solution? Since the current approach to educational games is clearly not working, we need to take a new approach. I feel that it is my duty to find ways to make learning fun. I need to provide kids with a viable alternative. So watch this space everyone, the next few months I will be brainstorming a cool new game for kids.
Campbell Craig 