Have you heard of gamification? Do you know what it means?
You are probably thinking it involves games, right?
Yes, but what else?
And to what end?
Gamification is a method used mostly in business and education to improve engagement and increase productivity.
How can playing games boost efficiency?
Monotony and overload lead to boredom, a creativity plateau, or even worse—stress and depression.
Enter gamification—it allows people to work and learn while playing.
Take a look at these gamification statistics below to see how effective and popular this method is.
Engrossing Gamification Stats (Editor’s Choice)
- The global gamification market was estimated at $36.86 billion in 2025.
- In TalentLMS’ 2018 survey, 84% of employees said gamification made them feel more engaged at work.
- In a statistics-education experiment with 365 students, challenge-based gamification was associated with a 34.75% improvement in average performance.
- KFC Japan and Gamify developed gaming content which increased store sales by 106%.
- 83% of employees feel more motivated when training is gamified.
- Retail reportedly held 28.6% of the global gamification market in 2019.
- The US Army launched America’s Army in 2002 as part of its recruitment and awareness efforts.
- 87% of the respondents in a 2019 survey reportedly said gamification brings a sense of belonging in the workplace.
- 89% of people would reportedly spend extra time on an application if it includes game elements.
The Latest Gamification Statistics
How popular is gamification?
Many large companies already use this method, and it is spreading across smaller businesses too.
Let’s see some gamification stats about the spread and effectiveness of the method in different sectors.
1. The global gamification market was estimated at $36.86 billion in 2025.
(Source: Fortune Business Insights)
For comparison, the gamification market was estimated at about $9.1 billion in 2020.
What is more, Fortune Business Insights projects the market will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 26.64% from 2026 to 2034. That is a forecast, not growth that has already happened.
2. 83% of employees feel much more motivated when training is gamified.
(Source: Talentlms)
Gamification is mostly used for motivating, engaging, and educating employees and to avoid boredom or stress.
TalentLMS’ 2019 survey found 83% of the respondents who received gamified training felt motivated.
Boredom drops from 49% (non-gamified training) to only 10%. In comparison, training without gamification was motivating for only 28% of individuals. Plus, 12% of those respondents described it as unproductive.
Numbers speak for themselves. Gamified training has a positive impact on employees’ motivation, levels of boredom, and productivity.
3. A 2019 gamification survey shows 87% of the respondents report gamification brought a sense of belonging in the workplace.
(Source: Talentlms)
Satisfied employees boost productivity and creativity. Just like the popular saying: “Happy wife, happy life,” except “wife” is the employees and “life”—the efficiency and annual revenue of a business.
What’s more, gamification statistics show that this methodology has a positive effect on employees’ personal experience, too.
In TalentLMS’ 2018 survey, 81% of respondents said gamification provided a sense of belonging and purpose in the workplace.
In 2019, 87% reportedly felt a sense of belonging.
In addition, 79% of the participants in 2018 reportedly said game elements bring purpose to their workplace. The following year, this number reportedly increased to 82%.
4. Nike Run Club is one of the most successful gamification examples.
(Source: ReallyGoodUx)
Gamification is all about boosting motivation, right? And everyone could use some extra motivation when it comes to fitness and an active lifestyle, right?
Every year we make New Year’s resolutions that we’ll eat healthy meals and hit the gym five times a week. Then a few days or weeks pass by, and our ambitious plan starts looking like a burden.
Gamification to the rescue! The multinational sportswear company Nike has realized the need to boost its customers’ motivation.
After all, if they train more, they will buy more training equipment. So what did the company do?
Nike created the Nike Run Club app combining gamification elements ready to boost people’s motivation.
Gamification Solutions
If you are even a tad familiar with the principles of gamification, you already know it applies psychological strategies to modify behavior.
But does gamification work? Is it as efficient as proclaimed?
Sometimes, numbers speak louder than words, so check out the gamification stats and see for yourself.
5. KFC Japan and Gamify collaborated to develop gaming content, which increased store sales by 106%.
(Source: Gamify, AdEspresso)
According to Gamify, the campaign reportedly increased store sales by 106% compared with the previous year.
KFC and Gamify are not the only companies using gamification. We have prepared a few interesting examples of world-known organizations.
We already mentioned Nike’s running app. Now, let’s see a less healthy example.
M&M’s ran a gamified Facebook campaign called Eye Spy Pretzel. It reportedly drew more than 26,000 likes and 6,200 shares.
6. In a 2018 survey, 84% of employees said gamification made them feel more engaged at work.
(Source: TalentLMS)
Most people are competitive by nature. Even if you are not one of them, you probably still like to be rewarded for your achievements. Who doesn’t?
For that reason, commonly used gaming elements include badges, leaderboards, scores, levels, and challenges.
Good job doing better than your colleague Bob! Here is a badge for leveling up.
Sounds silly, but it’s effective.
In TalentLMS’ 2018 Gamification at Work survey, 84% of employees said gamification made them feel more engaged at work. Keep in mind that this is how employees described their own experience, not a measured increase in engagement.
7. The US Army launched America’s Army in 2002 as a recruitment tool.
(Source: Oxford Academic)
Gamification has spread to a variety of business sectors worldwide. Among the most notable ones is the military.
The US Army released America’s Army online on July 4, 2002, as part of its recruitment and awareness efforts. The Army reportedly touted it as its most cost-effective recruitment tool ever.
Historical research cited a 2008 study which found that 30% of Americans aged 16 to 24 had a more favorable impression of the US Army because of the game. That is a survey finding, not a 30% increase in recruitment or in overall public approval.
8. 89% of people will spend extra time on an application if it includes game elements.
(Source: TalentLms)
We discussed the impact of gamification on motivation and engagement with different activities.
But what about the game itself?
How much does gamification increase engagement with the gamified tool?
According to a 2018 survey, 85% of the respondents will spend more time on a given application if it includes gamification elements.
In 2019, this number reportedly increased to 89%.
Gamification Industry
How big is the gamification industry? Can new ideas be easily implemented?
There’s no simple answer to that question. However, below, we list some stats and facts that will give you useful insights.
9. The retail sector reportedly held 28.6% of the global gamification industry in 2019.
(Source: Fortune Business Insights)
The retail sector was reportedly the leading one in 2019, with a 28.6% market share.
Fortune Business Insights splits the market into six named sectors plus an Others category: BFSI (banking, financial services, and insurance), retail, government, healthcare, education and research, and IT and telecom.
10. Gamification can help you track and improve your finances, sales, employee performance, and more.
(Source: Intuit Credit Karma, CNBC)
Although its most-known uses are in education and business, the gamification methodology is also often applied in other areas.
Companies and individuals develop gamified apps for virtually any purpose.
Take, for example, personal finance. Mint was one of the best-known budgeting apps that used fun rewards, challenges, and points to keep people on track. Intuit shut Mint down on March 23, 2024, and invited its users to move to Credit Karma, which took over popular Mint features such as tracking spending and cash flow.
Gamification Trends
The popularity of gamification has been increasing across various industries.
What gamification trends should we pay attention to in order to keep up with the fast development?
11. In one experiment, challenge-based gamification improved student performance by 34.75%.
(Source: International Journal of Human-Computer Studies)
COVID-19 introduced a whole new era in education. Children, teenagers, and university students all switched to online education.
However, it’s hard enough to retain the attention of young adults in person, let alone online. So how can teachers do their job effectively?
You know the answer. Gamification.
In a published statistics-education experiment involving 365 students, challenge-based gamification was associated with a 34.75% improvement in average assessment performance.
Under specific conditions, the same study found challenge-based gamification improved performance by up to 89.45% compared with attending a lecture alone. That was the upper-end result for one subgroup, not the overall average.
12. A 2019 forecast projected game-based learning in Western Europe would grow by 47% through 2024.
(Source: FinancesOnline)
Next came Eastern Europe with 42.2%. The third place was for Africa, with 41.3%.
The remaining four regions were the Middle East, North America, Latin America, and the Asia-Pacific, with projected growth rates of 36%, 35%, 30%, and 27%, respectively. These were projections, not verified actual growth rates.
Admittedly, the education sector is not the only area where the gamification market is expanding. Businesses, for example, implement gamification by using SaaS tools more and more often.
13. A 2019 Metaari forecast projected 15.4% growth in game-based learning in higher education through 2024.
(Source: FinancesOnline)
The forecast covered 2019 to 2024. It was a projection made at the time, not a verified outcome.
Wrap Up
Gamification is gaining popularity across different industries. Major companies have already recognized the need for gamified elements in the workplace.
Will this trend continue in the future? In which industries is it most popular?
The gamification statistics above answer these and other questions.
Sources
- Gamification Market Size, Share & Industry Analysis – Fortune Business Insights
- The 2019 Gamification at Work Survey – TalentLMS
- The 2018 Gamification at Work Survey – TalentLMS
- KFC Japan Case Study – Gamify
- 10 Facebook Gamification Examples You Need to Learn From – AdEspresso
- Beyond America’s Army: The Military, eSports, and a “Recruitment-Gaming Assemblage” – Security Dialogue, Oxford Academic
- Intuit Credit Karma Welcomes All Minters – Intuit Credit Karma
- Mint Budgeting App Is Going Away – CNBC
- The Effect of Challenge-Based Gamification on Learning: An Experiment in the Context of Statistics Education – International Journal of Human-Computer Studies (via PMC)
