Empowered by Applied Games: Transforming Health, Safety and Wellbeing

IGEA, the Australian video games industry association, presents a whitepaper on applied games, meaning games designed for purposes beyond entertainment such as education, training and social impact. It presents Australian case studies alongside some global perspectives, each written by its contributor. The case studies span education, mental wellbeing, online safety, physical health and road safety. The Makers Empire 3D design app is described as used by millions of students and thousands of educators in more than 50 countries. Adelaide University research is cited as finding that using Makers Empire improves students' spatial reasoning. Sound Scouts reports peer-reviewed studies showing 98% of children with normal hearing passed its test, while 85% of children with hearing loss failed. As of April 2026, Sound Scouts has enabled over 240,000 tests. Chaos Theory's Crab God reports real-world results including 1,900 corals restored and 900 trees planted. The paper concludes that applied games can deliver community benefits and strengthen economic resilience.