Are you ready to revolutionize the media industry with games, gamification, game theory, and game-like elements? The theme of the Think Ink competition, Gaming in Media, offers a unique opportunity to deeply explore the relationship between the gaming industry and media, and consider how these two worlds could join forces.
Media and gamification have collided in an unprecedented manner, opening doors to creativity, (journalistic) content and service engagement, and new revenue streams. Whether it’s about interactive news stories, gamified journalism, or game-form book publishing, immersive reading experiences, or game-filled television, the possibilities are limitless.
The innovation competition highlights the unique ability of games to bring interactivity alongside traditional storytelling methods. Participants are encouraged to think about how the interactivity of games can be used to enhance storytelling in other media. How can we get the audience to participate in the story, not just watch it?
The competition considers modern technology, such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), artificial intelligence (AI), and game engines, which offer new opportunities for combining games and media. Participants are encouraged to think about how these technologies can add new dimensions to entertainment content.
The search is on for early-stage and more developed ideas related to the theme ’Gaming in Media’. The idea could be a further developed new service or just an idea or concept. It can relate to news media, periodicals, the book industry, printing, television, or radio.
The jury will evaluate the ideas based on their novelty, potential impact, diversity and inclusiveness, and feasibility.
Engagement and audience engagement with media products have been challenges for media houses for some time. Traditional media compete for time usage with many other forms of media, from entertainment to social media channels. Gaming is displacing many forms of entertainment and is growing by more than 10 percent annually. The fastest-growing areas of gaming are VR, AR, and e-sports.
Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, the future of the gaming industry is not related to games but to digital entertainment. Game platforms today provide an environment for a wide range of activities: you can play games, meet new people, watch videos, participate in live events, and create, buy, or sell digital items.
The following criteria are applied to the evaluation of the submitted ideas.
Most importantly:
Secondarily:
Ideas can be submitted as of November 29th 2023. 15 ideas will be selected for the first pitching after pre-evaluation. A maximum of 10 of these ideas will make it to the further development phase.
In the second phase of the competition, the foundation will support the owners of the selected ideas in developing their ideas and in drafting their business plans. During earlier rounds, a budget of 80,000–100,000 euros has been allocated for this purpose, depending on the number of applicants admitted to the final contest and outsourced services. In connection with the previous competition, the final contestants were offered sparring while drafting their business plans.
In the final section of the competition form, applicants are asked in what area the presenter of the idea needs help with: communications, the business plan, or product development. This information helps us decide what kind of sparring we want to offer the contestants during the further development phase.
In return for the foundation’s support, the idea developers shall document their own developmental process in a blog.
In the third phase of the competition, the winners are selected. 140,000 euros have been reserved as prizes. The prize is intended for commercialising the idea. Before the prizes are paid, the winners must provide the foundation with a plan for using the prize, a payment plan and progress reports.
The competition jury consists of a diverse group of business experts with experience in developing business both domestically and internationally.
The jury chair is Anni Lintula, a board member of the Media Industry Research Foundation and B2B Business Director at A-lehdet Oy. The foundation is also represented by its director, Noora Alanne. The jury includes KooPee Hiltunen, the director of the Finnish game industry hub Neogames Finland ry, Johanna Suhonen, Commercial Director at Alma Talent Media, and Torsti Tenhunen, a growth coach and investor.
