Serious Games: A Declining Market or One Undergoing Major Transformation?[Le Serious game : marché en déclin ou en pleine mutation ?]

In this article entitled Serious Games: A Declining Market or One Undergoing Major Transformation?, the author analyzes the evolution of the Serious Games market by drawing on both historical and contemporary examples. The article notably recalls the pioneering role of America's Army (2002), which early on demonstrated the potential of video games as tools for communication, training, and recruitment, beyond mere entertainment. While the French Serious Games market remained limited to only a few million euros in 2016—far from the initial forecasts predicting spectacular growth—the article shows that this stagnation does not signal the disappearance of the sector, but rather its transformation. Major players in the video game industry have increasingly invested in education and training by adapting existing commercial licenses for pedagogical purposes, such as SimCity (through SimCity Edu), Portal, and Minecraft and its educational version. This dynamic, referred to as "Edumarketgame," allows large publishers to amortize their research and development investments while entering new markets. However, it also raises questions regarding how these initiatives are received within the educational community, as well as ethical concerns related to the introduction and promotion of commercial video game licenses in classrooms, despite the growing involvement of teachers and researchers in the design phases. Finally, the article outlines possible future trajectories for small Serious Games studios, which may reposition themselves as experts in content creation or serious-oriented level design, complementing the productions of major publishers. The author concludes that Serious Games are not disappearing, but are instead becoming increasingly industrialized and progressively integrated into the core of the video game industry.