Hey,

I've been watching this YouTube channel named Joseph Smon (I guess the name of the uploader?) who uploads gameplay footage of all sorts of edutainment software. They are not really 'games' but more just interactive books. You know the ones, I think all of us who grew up in the 80s, 90s and early 2000s probably got our hands on at least one piece of educational software either through school or our parents. Things like the 'Eyewitness' CD-ROMs, or Microsoft World of Flight and such.

Note: I am not talking about stuff like Ecoquest, which are genuine games with added 'educational' material. I am talking interactive encyclopedias.

I was wondering if GOG was ever interested in reviving this market (which seems to have just gone extinct) by releasing that software on their store. Are there licensing issues that prevent that from happening, or is there just no expected demand for this stuff?

I am not asking because I want to relive my nostalgia but because I think I could genuinely still learn a lot from those programs, even though most of them were aimed at kids. I know that Wikipedia has all that information and more, but Wikipedia is a boring place. These programs are cool, they let you walk around interactive museums where the showcased fossils and such come to life. There are voice overs for most articles contained in those programs, and often times they are accompanied by videos to explain the content of the article in more detail.

I personally really want to learn about history, but most books on the subject I've bought are really, really boring. I would love to walk around in historical periods, see 3D models of some of the old machines humans came up with back then, and etc.

Really, I would not just love to get that old software back, but I'd love to revive this market. I thought that companies simply moved away from selling that material as software and moved it onto websites, but there aren't a lot of edutainment websites either. I think lots of kids would be much more interested in learning with this sort of material, but who knows really how effective these programs were. Even if they wouldn't learn anything about the subject, I think it'd at least make them more curious about more subjects. Nowadays, they could even make software about teaching kids how to develop software.

Doesn't seem to be much interest:

https://www.gog.com/wishlist/site/goa_good_old_applications_educational_software

https://www.gog.com/wishlist/site/add_familyeducational_games_category

https://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/educational_games_teaching_children_math_science_geography

https://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/leonardo_da_vinci_corbis_interactive_educational_cdrom

i come to places like this black out my education. :P

Aww, that's a shame, but I guess the free market has decided :( That makes sense, and I had a feeling it'd come down to licensing issues.

I don't know what other companies made educational software. What about the 'How Things Work' company? Is that one of the ones you mentioned? Sorry, I should just look it up myself...

But you guys pretty much nailed the two points right away: Lack of interest and licensing issues.

Thanks for clarifying :)

Edit: Sorry, I want to mark you both as 'solution' but I can apparently only mark one... I appreciate both of your answers equally!

Well, there's Scholastic Corporation. From the Magic School Bus and similar ilk. There might actually be some potential there.

You are of course free to +1 those. Maybe other folks will as well now that they know they're there.

Yes, I just did :) Thanks! Ideally, if one company risks it and returns to making edutainment games regularly, more would come back into the market, right?

What irks me is that since software has moved away from physical CD-ROMs and to digital downloads... Would parents and the average teacher even know where to get the software from?

Edutainment is considered to be close to 'video games', so would they just sell them alongside Wolfenstein 2 on Steam or GOG? That'd be awkward! If a market like this is to revive itself, they'd either have to awkwardly link everyone to each company's own website, or they'd have to create a digital storefront for edutainment.

Even if interest was there... I think this would require a lot of work.... And companies don't like doing more work when they don't know that big profits await them at the end =/

Only if they believe it will sell well.

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