Scott Brewster, Co-Founder, ThinkZone Games Mitch Weisburgh, Co-Founder, ThinkZone Games This presentation was given at the 2016 Serious Play Conference, hosted by the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School. Who is the buyer for games that are to be used in schools? How do education buyers make decisions? How do they want to use games? How big is the market? What are the obstacles to reaching more students and teachers? What’s the potential market? You’ll find out in our session.

1. Games & The U.S. Education Market
Mitch Weisburgh
mitch.weisburgh@academicbiz.com
Scott Brewster
scott@thinkzonegames.com

2. Game-Based Learning (GBL) Market 2
Instructional Purchases: 10%
Student Support Services: 8%
Operations: 20%
Uses of Ed Funds
Instructional Staff: 64%
(750B)
(7.5B)
Current K12 GBL
< $100M
Potential GBL
$2B

3. US K-12 Content Sales Breakdown
Other: 3%
District
Administration: 60%
School
Administration: 25%
Teachers: 7%
State: 5%

4. US K-12 Decision Makers
Target
Decision Maker
Super-
intendent
District
Admin
School
Principal Teacher Librarian
Size of
Problem
Semester,
Multiple Grades,
Multiple Schools
Month+,
Multiple Grades,
Special Populations
At Least
1 Grade,
A Few Weeks
At Least
1 Full Lesson
At Least
1 Full Lesson
Expected Spend $100,000+
$5,000 –
$50,000
$2,000 -
$10,000
Free to
$200
Free to
$500
Approval Cycle 18 Months 6-12 Months 3-6 Months 0-60 Days 0-6 Months
Buying Power 60% 25% 7% <3%
U.S. Total
Number
15,000 60,000 100,000 3,900,000 50,000

5. 13,640 Districts 115,062 Schools (24k Private)
3.8 Million Teachers 54 Million Students (5.9m Private)
US K-12 Market Size

6. 2013-2014 District Size and Population
District Count
% Total
Districts
District
Enrollment
% Student
Population
4,378 32% < 600 2%
5,086 37% 600 – 2,499 14%
2,003 15% 2,500 – 4,999 15%
1,028 8% 5,000 – 9,999 15%
806 6% 10,000 – 24,000 20%
338 2% > 25,000 34%

7. 2013-2014 District Size and Population
District Count
% Total
Districts
District
Enrollment
% Student
Population
4,378 32% < 600 2%
5,086 37% 600 – 2,499 14%
2,003 15% 2,500 – 4,999 15%
1,028 8% 5,000 – 9,999 15%
806 6% 10,000 – 24,000 20%
338 2% > 25,000 34%
92%
Small
Large
46%
54%

8. World Wide Buying Patterns: 2013 - 2014
Ambient Insights 2014

9. US K-12 Education Game Market
Education Game Market Projected 1 Year - US preK-12
Total
Market
K-3 3-5 6-8 9-12
General/Other 17.5 4.3 4.3 4.5 4.5
Math 43.9 10.7 10.7 11.2 11.2
ELA 61.4 15.0 15.0 15.7 15.7
Science 22.8 5.6 5.6 5.8 5.8
Social Studies 17.5 4.3 4.3 4.5 4.5
Arts 7.0 1.7 1.7 1.8 1.8
Social/Emotional 5.3 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.3
Total 175.4 42.9 42.9 44.8 44.8

10. The Big Addressable Problem
Education System: Industrial age & suboptimal
Games: 21st Century learning with student
Timing: The Tech Tsunami is now
engagement, learning in context,
and assessment

11. Outdated Education System

12. Timing & School Cycles
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Selling
Season
Decision Budget P.O. Releases Lead Acquisition

13. Trajectory of Adoption
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4
Beta Testing
Early
Adopters
Product
Champions
Ramp Up &
Market Penetration

14. How Do We Increase the Use of
Games in Schools?
Support Teachers
Increase Market Awareness
Target Policy Makers and Decision Makers
Collaborate
Make Games Easy to Deploy

15. 15
$500M Potential GBL Market By 2020
Market Obstacles
Game Developers
District
Administrators
Educators
ü No sustainable business model
ü High Customer Acquisition Cost
ü Against lots of small purchases
ü Don’t necessarily think games are
what students need
ü Individual games can create chaos
ü Password Hell
ü No Group and Individual
Assignment
ü No student progress tracking

16. US K-12 Spending
2008
School Budgets Peak
2014
School Budgets Start Rebound
Decrease in Headcount
& Purchases
2020:
Steady Increases
• Rebound in Tech Purchases vs Headcount
• Digital Native Educators & Admins
• Digital Distribution/Purchasing
Spending

17. US K-12 GBL Projections
DECREASE
$50M
GBL Spending
REBOUND
$500M
2008
School Budgets Peak
2014
School Budgets Start Rebound
2020:
Steady Increases

18. 18
Market Obstacles
Game Developers
District
Administrators
Educators
ü No sustainable business model
ü High Customer Acquisition Cost
ü Against lots of small purchases
ü Don’t necessarily think games are
what students need
ü Individual games can create chaos
ü Password Hell
ü No Group and Individual
Assignment
ü No student progress tracking

19. 19

20. Curate great educational games from multiple vendors
into a standards-based curriculum
Provide a platform to make digital
game-based learning easy to implement
Sell and market collections of games in a way that
makes sense to administrators & game developers
Can Developers Unlock the Market?

21. Can Developers Unlock the Market?

22. Games & The U.S. Education Market
Mitch Weisburgh
mitch.weisburgh@academicbiz.com
Scott Brewster
scott@thinkzonegames.com