Futures of Games

How will we create, access and play digital games in 2036?

Some say that play predates human culture. As Johan Huizinga pointed out, even animals can be seen to play—and they didn't learn it from us! But games, and the playing of games, are an essential part of what it is to be human.

Over the past few decades, digital games have become a huge economic and cultural force. Minecraft's daily player count is larger than the population of Sweden, while Roblox's is bigger than Russia. The global games industry is around ten times the value of the movie business—but games are not granted the cultural respect that still follows cinema.

To their players, however, digital games matter as much as movies, music or literature—if not more. Indeed, those older media are increasingly lining up behind games as the leading source of the characters, stories and worlds that ever-growing audiences most identify with and dream about.

At the same time, the production and distribution of digital games sits at the bleeding edge of technological development. As well as the stories and characters, tools and techniques developed in the games industry are showing up not only in other forms of entertainment, but also in education, the workplace, and even government. Games are not so much pushing the boundaries as they are spilling over them, leaking in to every aspect of life.

Game Habitat and Media Evolution are joining forces to bring together game developers, creators and players—as well as scholars, artists, writers, technologists, and others interested in imagining the future of digital games—to consider a global phenomenon with a local, Swedish focus. In this Collaborative Foresight cycle, we’ll explore such questions as:

What will our ‘gameful' lives look like in ten years' time?
What sorts of games might we be playing?
Where, and how, and with whom might we be playing them?
How might they be made, re-made, and made available to us?
What might they come to mean to those who play and make them?
How will we tell the difference between games and reality – and will we want to?

We will ask these questions (and more!) not in hope of predicting the future, but rather in hope of getting comfortable with uncertainty, imagining what might happen, and shaping it as it unfolds. We believe that complex questions require plural perspectives, collaborative conversations... and, of course, an element of play.

How to participate – there are two possible levels of participation

1. Join the open seminars and community workshops

We invite anyone working with or simply curious about the topic of games and gaming to join the following open workshops, as we are actively seeking a diverse range of perspectives and experiences to inform the process.

The workshops will be in-person, but the closing seminar will also be livestreamed. Participation in all of these events is free of charge, but please note that seats to the in-person events are limited!

Opening Reflections and Signal Scanning workshop: Bring your insights and observations, and help us sketch the changing landscape of games and gaming in the present.
Community Critique workshop 1 June 2026, 8.30 am – 11 am (registration opening soon) Get an exclusive in-progress look at the Core group’s work, and provide constructive feedback to shape the futures they produce.
Open strategic insights workshops for those working in games development (launching soon) Add vital rigor to the foresight cycle by sharing your professional knowledge and speculations about the games industry.
Closing seminar and book launch (launching soon) Join us to celebrate the completion of the cycle, to find out what we learned, and be among the first to get a copy of the book!

2. Join the core group

For this Collaborative Foresight cycle, we will convene a core group of participants from diverse backgrounds who have professional, academic or lived experiences connected to digital games and other relevant fields.

As part of the core group, you will spend a total of three days together with the group, facilitated by the Media Evolution foresight team. During these workshops, you will all tap into your expertise and experiences and together identify and make sense of multiple signals and drivers of change shaping the futures of games. You will develop these into scenarios that describe a range of possible futures of games, and explore what implications they might have for game development, gaming, and society at large. From there, you will lay out approaches and strategies aimed at preparing for, and shaping, the futures of games.

As a Core Group participant, you’ll get access to our unique method and tools for practicing foresight in a collaborative setting. You’ll walk away with novel insights, new connections, and a set of skills and methods to bring futures thinking and Collaborative Foresight into your own work, team or organisation.

How to join the Core Group

Write a brief expression of interest, including an introduction of yourself and your connection to the topic, your reasons for wishing to join this cycle, and what you hope to gain from participating. Then email it to Foresight Lead Reeta Hafner

Participation is free of charge, but places are limited and will be allocated in order to achieve the broadest possible range of different perspectives.

The workshops will take place at Media Evolution in Malmö as full-day sessions (8.30am-4pm) on May 18–19 and June 4.

The insights that emerge during this Collaborative Foresight cycle will be captured in a book featuring scenarios, immersive stories and practitioner and expert perspectives. The book will be published in the fall of 2026.

About

This Collaborative Foresight cycle on Futures of Games is hosted in collaboration between Media Evolution and Game Habitat with additional funding from the Region of Skåne.