Games for Health
Games for Health designs serious games and playful digital solutions for Dutch healthcare institutions, pharma companies, insurers, and GP clinics, spanning patient diaries, therapy adherence tools, oncology support, surgical training, citizen science, and AI voice automation.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2017
- HeadquartersEindhoven, Netherlands
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Games for Health does
Games for Health (trade name of Game Solutions Lab B.V., KvK 69531463) is an Eindhoven, Netherlands-based company that designs and develops serious games and playful digital solutions for the healthcare sector. Its product portfolio comprises nine distinct offerings spanning post-ICU patient diaries (Post-ICU), chronic-illness therapy adherence (Budiyu, Medi & Cate), oncology patient support (Life-Fullness), surgical skills training (Let's Train), citizen-science research gamification (Unmask), self-reflection card games (Play it Forward), healthcare-staff training experiences (Escape Rooms for Healthcare), and AI-driven GP voice automation (Handy). Underlying technology combines behavioral science, game mechanics, and human-centered design; the company applies a proprietary four-step Game Ready Workshop co-creation methodology to scope and prototype each engagement with multidisciplinary teams of 6-8 stakeholders.
The company serves healthcare institutions, pharmaceutical companies, health insurance providers, and GP clinics across the Netherlands, with durable partnerships across seven major Dutch hospitals and academic medical centers (Radboudumc, Erasmus MC, UMC Utrecht, Catharina Ziekenhuis, Jeroen Bosch Ziekenhuis, Máxima MC) plus Zorginstituut Nederland, Health~Holland, and Lymph&Co. Its go-to-market is enterprise field sales with custom quote-based pricing and multi-year contracts; revenue comes from project-based solution development, with one product (Life-Fullness) achieving full reimbursement via ONVZ supplementary health insurance. Games for Health is founder-led by Jurriaan van Rijswijk (Commercial Officer), Sandra van Rijswijk (Director), and Rob Tieben (Creative & Scientific Expert), with no external funding rounds disclosed.
Games for Health firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Games for Health
- Legal name
- Game Solutions Lab B.V.
- Website
- https://gamesforhealth.net
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2017
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Games for Health designs serious games and playful digital solutions for Dutch healthcare institutions, pharma companies, insurers, and GP clinics, spanning patient diaries, therapy adherence tools, oncology support, surgical training, citizen science, and AI voice automation.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Games for Health industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Digital Health Serious Games
- SIC
- Services-Health Services (8000), Services-Misc Health & Allied Services, Nec (8090)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Serious Games & Simulation Studios (Training, Defense, Enterprise) (MPAFAAAH)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Care Navigation, Advocacy & Benefits Guidance Platforms (HLALADAJ)
Keywords
Where Games for Health is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Eindhoven
- HQ country
- Netherlands
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices3 records
Markets served
Games for Health business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Healthcare Solutions Development: Games for Health develops custom serious games and playful patient solutions for healthcare organizations, pharma companies, and health insurers. The company collaborates directly with partners to tackle complex healthcare challenges through game-based interventions. Revenue appears to come from solution development contracts and potentially licensing of developed products.
- Life-Fullness Insurance Coverage: Life-Fullness is fully covered by ONVZ supplementary health insurance, indicating a reimbursement-based revenue stream where healthcare solutions are compensated through insurance providers.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Multi-year contract | Custom enterprise engagement with quote-based pricing |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels6 records
Games for Health product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Games for Health develops serious games and playful digital healthcare solutions that intrinsically motivate healthy behavior change. The company builds a portfolio of standalone products — including patient diaries, digital care buddies, citizen science puzzle games, surgical training games, and an AI voicebot — alongside co-design workshops for healthcare institutions, pharmaceutical companies, and health insurers.
Product overview
Games for Health is a serious games and playful healthcare solutions provider offering a portfolio of distinct products designed to motivate healthy, sustainable behavior change. The portfolio includes Post-ICU (a shared digital patient diary), Budiyu (a digital care buddy for chronic patients), Life-Fullness (a holistic cancer patient support tool using the Life House concept), Let's Train (a surgical training video game), Unmask (a citizen science puzzle game for medical research), Play it Forward (a self-reflection card game), Medi & Cate (a therapy adherence puzzle game), Escape rooms for healthcare (experiential training for care providers), and Handy (an AI-driven voicebot for GP assistants). The company also offers a Game Ready Workshop service for co-designing new healthcare solutions. All products apply game mechanics and playful design to healthcare challenges, from patient care to medical training to research acceleration.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Post-ICU A personalized digital diary shared between ICU patients, their families, and healthcare teams to bridge the gap between ICU care and recovery, improve communication, and reduce PTSD incidence.
- Budiyu A holistic digital care buddy that adapts to chronic patient needs across personal, social, and practical dimensions, providing motivational support, medication reminders, and care network features to improve therapy adherence.
- Life-Fullness A holistic cancer patient support tool using thematic 'Life House' rooms that help patients organize thoughts, questions, and feelings through personalized online coaching. Fully covered by ONVZ supplementary health insurance in the Netherlands.
- Let's Train A video game combined with a custom-modified endoscope controller that trains surgical skills, allowing students and experienced surgeons to practice without human tissue and reducing training costs.
- Unmask A citizen science puzzle game where players contribute real research data for cancer (lymphoma) studies by identifying microRNA binding places that computer algorithms cannot reliably predict, engaging over 7,700 citizen scientists.
- Play it Forward A five-minute interpretive card game that promotes self-reflection in patients by uncovering life values through abstract imagery and meaningful conversation prompts, supporting cardiovascular recovery and lifestyle maintenance.
- Medi & Cate A collection of daily puzzle games (crosswords, tangrams, sudokus) integrated with medication barcode scanning to promote therapy adherence through gamification.
- Escape Rooms for Healthcare Experiential, playful training sessions designed around fictional client stories to teach healthcare providers person-centered care, observation skills, and empathy through escape room game formats.
- Handy AI Voicebot An AI-driven voicebot that answers patient calls 24/7, handling prescription ordering, appointment scheduling, and general non-medical questions to relieve GP practice assistants.
- Game Ready Workshop A day-long co-creation workshop service that produces a first concept draft and harvest document through a four-step process including multidisciplinary team assembly, needs mapping, impact goal definition, and prototype co-creation for healthcare solutions.
Quantifiable outcome
- >60% decreased incidence of PTSD in ICU patients using shared diary
- +7 more outcomes
Companies that use Games for Health
Customer profileNamed customers1 record
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles5 records
Games for Health technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability2 records
Feature9 records
Games for Health partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- Zorginstituut NederlandcoreZorginstituut Nederland is listed as a durable partnership. The organization is the Dutch healthcare institute that assesses and advises on quality, accessibility, and affordability of healthcare in the Netherlands.
- RadboudumccoreRadboud University Medical Center is listed as a durable partnership. One of the leading academic hospitals in the Netherlands collaborating on healthcare innovation.
- Erasmus MCcoreErasmus MC is listed as a durable partnership. One of the largest and most renowned university medical centers in the Netherlands.
- Catharina ZiekenhuiscoreCatharina Ziekenhuis is listed as a durable partnership. A leading regional hospital in Eindhoven, Netherlands.
- Jeroen Bosch ZiekenhuiscoreJeroen Bosch Ziekenhuis is listed as a durable partnership. A major regional hospital in the Netherlands.
- UMC UtrechtcoreUMC Utrecht is listed as a durable partnership. One of the leading university medical centers in the Netherlands focused on innovation in healthcare.
- Máxima MCcoreMáxima MC is listed as a durable partnership. A regional medical center serving Eindhoven and surrounding areas.
- Lymph&CocoreLymph&Co is listed as a durable partnership. A foundation focused on lymphoma research and patient support, relevant to the Unmask citizen science game.
- Health~HollandcoreHealth~Holland is listed as a durable partnership. The Dutch life sciences & health hotspot that promotes and supports innovation in healthcare.
- SARA RoboticsminorSARA Robotics collaborated with Games for Health on a design project. Product Owner Rianne Jurriens provided testimonial praising the Game Ready Workshop process for delivering concrete results in two days.
Scale indicators9 records
Recent moves1 record
Expansion highlights5 records
Games for Health competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Omada Health: US-based digital behavior change company focused on diabetes, hypertension, and mental health prevention. Comparable in serving payers/employers with digital therapeutic interventions, though at significantly larger scale and broader portfolio than Games for Health.
- Sword Health: Digital physical therapy and AI care platform selling into employers and health plans. Comparable as a digital-first therapeutic provider with measurable clinical outcomes and payer relationships, though focused specifically on MSK rather than serious-game methodology.
- WellDoc: Established US digital therapeutics company with FDA-cleared chronic disease management platforms (e.g., diabetes). Comparable as a more mature digital health player selling into payers and providers, though broader in scope than serious games specifically.
Direct peers
- Voluntis: Digital therapeutics company (now part of AptarGroup) that develops companion software for patients on specific therapies, including medication adherence. Comparable to Games for Health's Budiyu and Medi & Cate therapy-adherence solutions and its pharma-focused revenue stream.
- Sidekick Health: Iceland/Europe-headquartered digital therapeutics company that uses gamification to drive patient engagement in chronic conditions. Directly comparable to Games for Health's Budiyu, Life-Fullness, and Medi & Cate adherence products and its European payer-pharma business model.
- Ayogo Health: Canada-based health games company building gamified patient engagement and behavior-change apps for chronic care and clinical research. Comparable to Games for Health's combination of playful design, chronic-care focus, and citizen-science research products like Unmask.
- Akili Interactive: US-based digital therapeutics company that develops video game-based cognitive treatments (e.g., EndeavorRx). Closely comparable as a serious-games-for-health company commercializing clinically validated game-based interventions through healthcare and payer channels.
- Happify Health: Digital therapeutics platform using game-like activities to improve mental health and chronic conditions. Comparable to Games for Health's Play it Forward card game and broader portfolio of gamified psychological and behavioral interventions.
- Kaia Health: Europe-based digital therapeutics company offering app-based musculoskeletal and chronic-condition programs with motivational coaching. Comparable as a Europe-headquartered digital health company selling into payers, insurers, and employers for behavior-change outcomes.
Emerging players
- MindMaze: Switzerland-based digital neurotherapeutics company using gamified, AI-driven therapies for stroke, brain injury, and Parkinson's. Comparable to Games for Health's Let's Train surgical-skills product and broader category of game-based clinical training and recovery tools.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Games for Health social profiles
Digital presenceGames for Health financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Games for Health leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
Games for Health funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Games for Health M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Games for Health
What does Games for Health do?
Games for Health develops serious games and playful digital healthcare solutions that intrinsically motivate healthy behavior change. The company builds a portfolio of standalone products — including patient diaries, digital care buddies, citizen science puzzle games, surgical training games, and an AI voicebot — alongside co-design workshops for healthcare institutions, pharmaceutical companies, and health insurers.
Is Games for Health a public or private company?
Games for Health is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Games for Health founded?
Games for Health was founded in 2017. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Games for Health based?
Games for Health is headquartered in Eindhoven, Netherlands, in the Europe region.
How does Games for Health make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Healthcare Solutions Development is the primary driver. The others are life-Fullness Insurance Coverage.
Who are Games for Health's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Omada Health, Sword Health and WellDoc. Direct peers are Voluntis, Sidekick Health, Ayogo Health, Akili Interactive, Happify Health and Kaia Health. MindMaze is listed as an emerging player.
Does Games for Health have an API?
No public API is recorded for Games for Health.
What industry is Games for Health in?
Games for Health's product category is Digital Health Serious Games. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPAFAAAH, Serious Games & Simulation Studios (Training, Defense, Enterprise), with a secondary code of HLALADAJ, Care Navigation, Advocacy & Benefits Guidance Platforms. Its SIC code is 8000.