"Video games foster critical thinking, collaboration, strategic planning, resilience and creativity"
A European initiative validates the potential of digital games to train transversal skills
The Horizon Europe MEGASKILLS initiative, which TECNALIA is leading along with six international partners, seeks to design an innovative methodology to train and assess these skills through video games. The analysis of thousands of job offers by the SEPE Employment Observatory confirms their relevance today, which reinforces the need for scalable, motivating and data-driven methodologies for their development.
Transversal skills have become a key factor for employment. They include skills like critical thinking, adaptability, communication or time management. They are human skills that the most competitive companies value as determining factors in professional performance and they do not depend on a specific degree or sector.
Commercial video games as a real learning environment
500 people have participated in MEGASKILLS with extremely diverse profiles: students, managers, the unemployed, migrants and professionals from different areas. We have reviewed commercial video games, such as Fortnite, Train Valley 2, Lightseekers, Relic Hunters Zero: Remix or Minion Masters to study their mechanics. These games reinforce decision-making, planning, management under pressure and teamwork, in particular.
Artificial intelligence for covert and non-intrusive assessment
We have used Valve Corporation's API to collect game data, such as game time, achievements or difficulty level. They have been used to design a covert assessment system based on artificial intelligence which enables each participant’s evolution in specific skills to be measured. This approach avoids the bias of traditional methods, reduces evaluative anxiety and replicates real-life environments.
Impact on learning, employability and future certification
The final analysis shows that video games foster critical thinking, collaboration, strategic planning, resilience and creativity. Furthermore, some scientific studies support additional cognitive benefits, such as memory enhancement or improved spatial orientation.
- MEGASKILLS is aligned with the European Skills Agenda, which aims to train 200 million people in skills for the future.
- We also contribute to defining, categorising and linking these skills to European frameworks, such as ESCO, which will facilitate their recognition and certification in the medium term.
- The findings identify 30 key transversal competences, reveal the value of combining traditional tests and game data and confirm the potential of video games as robust learning tools in a labour market influenced by digitalisation and constant change.