Museums and video games: how can experimentation be turned into a market?

Among the earliest examples, we cannot fail to mention Father and Son, the video game created in 2017 by TuoMuseo for the National Archaeological Museum of Naples, which, according to figures provided by the producers, has exceeded five million downloads. In 2018, with Past for Future, the National Archaeological Museum of Taranto followed a similar path, weaving a contemporary narrative with the city’s archaeological heritage and identity. More recent is the initiative by the National Museums of Matera with Ridolhunting – The Museum Awakens, created by Grifo Multimedia as part of the Ministry of Culture’s Ecomic digital ecosystem. The project transforms the discovery of the Ridola Museum’s heritage into a geolocated treasure hunt that takes in ten locations across the city, featuring puzzles, missions and artefacts to be found. Alongside these original productions, another approach has gradually gained ground: using major gaming platforms to reach audiences in their usual digital environments. The National Archaeological Museum of Naples, with MANNcraft, has recreated the museum building and part of its collections in Minecraft. In 2022, the Modena Figurine Museum also chose Minecraft to offer interactive tours, puzzles and treasure hunts, whilst the MUDEM – the Bank of Italia’s Coin Museum – developed MUDEMverse, an experience on Roblox dedicated to the history of currency and financial education. Galileo Legacy forms part of this initiative, bringing the scientific heritage of the Museo Galileo in Florence to Fortnite, a platform frequented by a vast community of players. In short, the perspective is reversed: it is no longer just the public entering the museum through the game, but the museum entering the world of the players.

Mudem Verse - Museo della Moneta, 2025 realizzato da Melazeta

The spread of gamification in the cultural sector is also being driven by its gradual integration into public policy. In this regard, the PNRR has acted as a major catalyst, funding both projects aimed at individual cultural institutions and technological tools designed for wider-scale use. In 2025, the Directorate-General for Museums of the Ministry of Culture published a call for proposals worth 300,000 euros, as part of Investment 1.2 of the PNRR, dedicated to removing physical and cognitive barriers in museums, libraries and archives. The call for proposals provided for the creation of three cultural video games, with a grant of 100,000 euros each, and was aimed at public and private cultural institutions that were already beneficiaries of the scheme. The aim was to trial free and replicable gaming experiences capable of broadening access to cultural heritage and engaging new audiences.

Of greater economic significance is the initiative by the Ministry of Culture’s Digital Library, which, as part of the national strategy for the digitisation of cultural heritage, has launched a two-phase programme. The first phase, through four calls for proposals totalling 4 million euros, funded 24 co-creation initiatives in the fields of accessibility and inclusion, gamification, advanced access, and conservation and restoration. The second, launched in April 2025, involved a competitive dialogue procedure worth 15 million euros for the procurement of innovative digital solutions, of which approximately 3 million was earmarked for gamification.

It is precisely this latest initiative that marks a potential shift in direction. The gamification component was, in fact, aimed at developing a national platform capable not only of gathering and showcasing the experiences gained through the funded projects, but also of enabling museums, libraries and other cultural institutions to independently create new interactive experiences based on their own digital content. The ambition is to overcome the fragmentation of individual experiments and provide shared, reusable tools that are accessible even to the smallest organisations. This is a significant prospect, the scope of which will, however, depend on the platform’s actual availability and the institutions’ ability to adopt it.

Public support, moreover, is not limited to the cultural applications of video games, but also extends to the industry that produces them. In 2025, the Ministry of Culture confirmed a grant of 12 million euros for the tax credit for the production of Italian video games recognised as having cultural value. Introduced in 2021, the incentive provides a tax credit equal to 25 per cent of eligible expenditure and constitutes a support mechanism for video game production that is distinct from funding allocated to museum gamification.

Galileo Legacy - Museo Galileo Galilei, 2026 realizzato da DotBeyond

The growing demand for digital experiences in the cultural sector is being met by a rapidly expanding industry. In Italia, the number of companies active in video game development has risen from 48 in 2012 to over 200 in 2024, with around 2,800 employees and an estimated total turnover of between 180 and 200 million euros, up 36 per cent on 2022 (IIDEA, 2025). This production figure contrasts sharply with the 2.386 billion euros of the Italian video game market in 2025, which instead measures consumer spending. This is an important distinction for understanding the prospects of cultural gamification.

But for this market to become established, one key question remains to be addressed: does the success of a video game really translate into greater cultural engagement? Millions of players and thousands of downloads do not, in themselves, guarantee a greater interest in cultural heritage. According to Istat data, in 2025, 35.8 per cent of Italians aged six and over visited at least one museum or exhibition, whilst 32.3 per cent visited an archaeological site or monument. These percentages are rising over the long term, but they confirm that visiting such places remains a minority habit. It is precisely in the gap between the spread of digital entertainment and cultural participation that some of the most interesting opportunities for the sector arise. Provided, however, that the success of these experiences is measured not only in terms of the number of users reached, but also by their ability to generate knowledge, interest and new forms of participation, even beyond the physical visit itself. For museums and cultural institutions, this means moving beyond the notion of the video game as a stand-alone initiative and, where it yields results, viewing it as part of a broader cultural offering, comprising services and experiences capable of evolving over time.