Interview with Derek van Dongen, owner of Mindgame

Derek was recently interviewed about the future of gamification. For those who missed it, here’s the full interview.

“Gamification is not a gimmick, but a driver of behavioral change and value creation.”

Mindgame develops serious games that inspire people to take action and help organizations achieve their goals. Gamification and AI play an increasingly important role – not only in driving behavioral change, but also in activating customers and increasing business value.

Derek discusses the opportunities for organizations, the role of AI, and why investors such as private equity and venture capital are keeping a close eye on this market.

How do you ensure that gamification truly becomes part of an organization’s work or customer journey?
Derek: “We make sure gamification isn’t just a standalone game, but is embedded in our clients’ processes or propositions. When an organization directly links our intervention to their daily practice or product offering, behavioral change becomes lasting. That’s what we call embedding.”

What exactly do you mean by embedding?
Derek: “Embedding means our game becomes part of the client’s proposition. Imagine an SME supplier offering an IT package. Within that package, there’s also a security awareness intervention. For the user, it feels like it comes directly from the supplier, but in reality it was developed by us. Just like ‘Intel Inside’: our technology is in there, even if our logo isn’t visible. That way, we structurally become part of their product or service and add real value.”

How does gamification create value for organizations?
Derek: “For users, gamification makes learning and changing behavior more fun and effective. For organizations, that translates into more engaged employees, more active customers, and better results. That’s not soft value, but hard business impact.”

How does Mindgame use AI to activate customers?
Derek: “AI helps us understand user profiles: what motivates someone, where do they disengage? By building those insights into the game, a customer feels recognized and challenged. That drives stronger activation and stronger customer relationships.”

Private equity and venture capital are looking more and more at gaming. Why?
Derek: “Gaming has grown into a mature industry. Private equity and venture capital see that its applications go far beyond entertainment. Think healthcare, education, HR, and marketing. Gamification offers scalable solutions, which makes it very attractive for investors.”

What is the added value of selling or investing in gamification?
Derek: “A well-designed serious game can be reused and scaled. For companies, that means ongoing returns from a single investment. For investors, it’s a growth model that is future-proof. That’s the real power of gamification.”

How do investors experience this in practice?
Roel (partner at a private equity fund): “What convinced us about Mindgame is that gamification isn’t a gimmick – it demonstrably creates value. Teams adopt faster, customers participate more actively, and the data generated is directly usable. That makes Mindgame a valuable partner for us.”

👉 Mindgame helps organizations and investors make behavioral change and value creation tangible through serious games.