"Although simulations of management techniques function well in the virtual world today, experiments carried out in the behavioral development domain remain unconvincing. We do not hone our leadership skills or master our emotions in the same way we learn to maneuver a fork lift", explains Steve Fiehl, Associate Director in charge of CrossKnowledge solutions.

Far more ambitious than those currently available on the market, the third-generation games represent investments of between 500,000 and one million euros per game for a potential of thirty to fifty hours spread over the course of several months. "Only the market leaders are able to make the kind of investment required", notes Steve Fiehl.

In order to develop these new types of games, CrossKnowledge has opened a special division in the Netherlands, a country well known for its large number of players and its high-quality game development. Ed Fennema, psycho-pedagogue, trainer, and entrepreneur, will head up this division. Ed has worked in the serious gaming sector since 2003, and thanks to his expertise, the CrossKnowledge Gaming Division, comprised of script-writers, developers, and graphic artists, has become an experienced team specialized in developing games for government and industry.

Its goal is to develop a series of off-the-shelf and custom-built games based on improving organization-wide phenomena like shifting cultures and building integrity, as well as a wide range of workplace behaviors: emotional intelligence in leading teams of people, decision-making under stressful circumstances, and setting up sales processes.

These games will not only be intended for managers but also, more generally, for those dealing and interacting with clients. It will of course, also be possible to combine these virtual and interactive means of development with more traditional classroom learning or mentoring.

Estimated to be worth two billion dollars in the US and Europe, the popular market of serious games for training purposes continues to grow by more than fifty percent per year. Forty percent of American companies incorporate such games into the framework of their managerial training, while sixty percent of European companies plan to use them in the near future.