The casual games segment by game type is estimated to lead the market growth during the forecast period.

According to a new market research study of “Europe Healthcare Gamification Market Forecast to 2027 - COVID-19 Impact and Regional Analysis by Game Type, Application, End User and Country.” The Europe healthcare gamification market is expected to reach US$ 9,762.10 million by 2027 from US$ 863.78 million in 2019; it is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 35.6% from 2020 to 2027.  The report highlights trends prevailing in the Europe healthcare gamification market and the factors driving market along with those that act as hindrances.

The Europe healthcare gamification market according to game type, is segmented into, casual games, exercise games, and serious games. The casual games segment held the largest share of the market in 2019. However, the exercise games segment is anticipated to register the highest CAGR in the market during the forecast period.

Gamification is employed in health and wellness apps related to disease prevention, self-management, medical education-related simulations, medication adherence, and telehealth programs. In healthcare, it is primarily useful for behavioral changes, incentivizing people to increase their wellness by performing game-like tasks and receiving rewards. The games offer the patients an ability to express themselves—which is not otherwise the case in majority of patient cases—thereby helping professionals to design a better therapy, leading to effective treatment outcomes. Therefore, the rising prevalence of chronic diseases such as mental illness and musculoskeletal and orthopedic conditions, which are treatable to an extent with gaming technologies, is expected to escalate the demand for healthcare gamification. Owing to increasing rate of literacy and rising importance of health through various social media platforms, campaigns, initiatives, and advertisements, millennial and young population are aware of healthcare and health parameters. In addition, the increasing adoption of Internet and smartphones has made it easy for the healthcare information technology companies to reach consumers directly through online platforms. Direct-to-consumer advertising of healthcare games and technology platforms offers widened opportunities to companies for patient empowerment and participation. Training platforms and healthcare games help patients to gain knowledge and feel comfortable with the use of tech-based gadgets and software to keep a track of their health, thereby being a part of health consumerism. Thus, health consumerism is likely to be a driving factor of the industry and expected to offer various growth opportunities for the players involved in the healthcare gamification market.

In Europe, there is exponential growth of COVID-19 cases. Some research articles published aims at evaluating serious games as an effective educational tool to teach young adults about prevention measures that could mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Hundreds of apps have been developed in the past years in Europe that used the simplest of gamification strategies to motivate users to enhance their health. For instance, for check-ups, UK-based start-up Clinicoin rewards patients with crypto currency when they follow recommended health steps like regular check-ups and exercise. Hence, COVID-19 has a positive impact on Europe healthcare gamification market.

The growth of the market is attributed to factors such as growing acceptance of gamified models throughout the healthcare system, rising prevalence of chronic diseases, and emerging health consumerism. However, low motivation and research in actual game design on the behavioral result is likely to hamper the growth of the market.

BUNCHBALL, Ayogo Health Inc., Fitbit, Inc, Nike, Inc., Cohero Health, Inc., and mySugr are among the leading companies operating in the Europe healthcare gamification market.

The report segments in Europe Healthcare Gamification Market as follows:

By Game Type

• Casual Games
• Serious Games
• Exercise Games

By Application

• Fitness Management
• Medical Training
• Physical Therapy
• Others

By End User

• Enterprise-Based Users
• Consumer-Based Users

By Country

• UK
• Germany
• France
• Italy
• Spain
• Rest of Europe