Cultural and heritage serious game are increasingly used by humanities and heritage organisations, mainly to draw consumers’ attention, in a highly dynamic context. Thus, in order for the message to be delivered, the players on the market are focusing on how to reach the consumers as easiest and as effective as possible.
The convenience factor has driven more cultural and heritage serious games towards mobile platform, often based on simple tasks (sending SMS, scanning bar-codes or QE codes). In terms of future room for development, major mobile phone operators, such as Orange and Vodaphone are expected to facilitate the access at cultural and heritage serious games through their own stores, as they partner with entities such as museums (mobile operators could also offer their support in exchange of marketing benefits offered by the aforementioned institutions). There are still progresses to be made in terms of flexibility (on the side of the phone operators and mobile app distributors), Apple already having a history of prohibiting the retail of several serious games from its iTunes App Store (e.g. Endgame: Syria), denouncing bias against certain social categories.
Interactive TV will also be a key area, with players such as History, National Geographic Channel or Discovery Channel being expected to offer serious game solutions via TV, after the technological development and external funding will allow the development of such gaming systems. Overall, immersive technologies are determing the shift towards a multi-platform approach which ensures are more efficient connection with the end-user.