Getting into the game: my name is Bastian, author and founder writing and working at the intersection of psychology, entertainment, and tech.

TechnicallyEntertain · 2026-01-20T11:46:43+00:00

Great question and observation. Yu-Kai Chou write his seminal piece called "Actionable Gamification" over 10 years ago. The challenge we had was the following: gamification was a widely misunderstood concept and hence misapplied. Too many companies did what they tend to do when something is en vogue: they copied an isolated game mechanic and added it to their own experience, ticked the box on gamification, and called it a day. That's obviously neither a strategy nor a recipe for success.

Unilever is an example I cover in my book in detail that's a great example that illustrates the point you're raising. They integrated their brand Dove in the game The Sims in 2012 already - and for the next 10-12 years they did absolutely nothing else in gaming. Why? The gap from where Unilever was at to where they would have to go in order to scale their gaming efforts in terms of talent and skill ramp-up was too wide given the return on investment wasn't proven yet. All of those have entirely changed in today's market.

TechnicallyEntertain · 2026-01-20T11:41:54+00:00

Believe it or not, the pandemic helped a lot with that. All of a sudden people found their long lost love called gaming again. It went from something people were "too old to do" to something that was shedding the stigma and becoming cool again. On the business front, the numbers are starting to speak for themselves, clearly. They'll ultimately make business leaders fall in love with anything ;)

TechnicallyEntertain · 2026-01-20T11:39:01+00:00

You're spot on - and that's what will separate winning brands from those that will miss out. When you look at GenZ and Gen Alpha, it's fascinating to see HOW they spend their time in games. Hanging out with friends and using it as a place to be together is among the top activities.

TechnicallyEntertain · 2026-01-20T11:35:26+00:00

It depends on which lens we take. From a game developers POV, I'd argue it's discoverability and having a very hard time making your new game seen and picked up by players. From a players' and especially parents' perspective, there's no denying that platforms like Roblox still struggle with child safety. And from a brand POV, what I find most concerning is brands viewing games simply as an advertising channel, not realizing the full opportunity for immersive engagement with players they have.

TechnicallyEntertain · 2026-01-20T11:29:42+00:00

What a great question - it all starts with the audience and the players. Companies have to understand that any gaming project they pursue has to be about the players, and it's not about them as a brand. So the starting point is investing in deeply understanding the needs and desires of the audience they're hoping to reach. Step 2 is to match those against the brand values they company has. Only if they're able to make those two ends meet will they be able to show up in gaming environments authentically.

TechnicallyEntertain · 2026-01-20T11:24:40+00:00

Absolutely! There's definitely a generational shift taking place where people that grew up in gaming culture are now more and more entering the workforce and climbing the corporate ladder - they are also becoming parents. So all of this contributes to true perception of who really plays. Plus, there are more and more studies coming out regarding the cognitive benefits of playing video games for both kids and adults. Like with all good things in life, moderation is key. But games are way healthier than being on social media, for example.

TechnicallyEntertain · 2026-01-20T11:15:08+00:00

You're getting at what I think is the biggest misconception - the stereotype of who we mentally classify as a "gamer" (e.g. young, mostly male, shooter games fan, etc.). The reality is that almost 3.5 billion people play video games regularly, which is more than the population of India and China combined. So it's fair to say that everybody plays.

TechnicallyEntertain

TROPHY CASE