Games, digital games, games development
Karlstad University is presently investing in capacity for research related to gaming and game development. Presently, we are developing areas of accessibility design for digital games, user evaluation of games, team-coordination in game development, and are also part of development of games as means for communication and teaching together with other subjects at Karlstad University and partner universities.
Games Development Research Centre
2026, February 1, To bolster Sweden’s position in the global game industry, the University of Skövde, Malmö University, Blekinge Institute of Technology and Karlstad University establishes the Game Development Research Centre (GDRC). The Swedish Knowledge Foundation is the main funder of the initiative. Karlstad University builds on its research in agile systems development methods to advance game production within GDRC. We will moreover develop our focus on user experience and accessibility – now as a resource for game development. In collaboration with studios and incubators like The Great Journey, we will be able to study work processes and test new ways of working in practice. Also Embracer Games Archive are among those who have signed a Letter of Intent to collaborate in this research. (Read more -- we are still signing agreements with bigger and smaller studios and consultants for collaboration.)
The general address to GDRC is https://gdrc.se/
Presently, much of the GDRC web info rests on the host institution for GDRC, Uni of Skövde, like this information about our research student John Johansson: What Makes Game Development Teams Work in the Long Run?
In brief, the Information Systems groups is involved in research and activities in the following areas.
Business Development and Management - a branch within GDRC
Structures and methods are crucial in preparing future companies and entrepreneurs in areas such as project management, entrepreneurship, and business processes for product development
Research within this theme focuses on understanding the drivers of entrepreneurship in creative industries and how these differ from traditional sectors
– Our aim is to provide better support for start-ups and improving survivability beyond the initial formation stage
We know that incubators and other support structures are much appreciated. Still, we need to develop these structure. For instance, while technical debt has long been in focus, there is an apparent need to understand various non-technical debts, such as lack of developed procedures for on-boarding or inter-team working.
Formats for interactive evaluation early in games development
Also, better connection to people outside game developing communities to pursue user-testing with a more representative sample of players. We want to find formats for this, including how indie/start-ups can finance buying such help.
This also include accessibility and inclusion of broad range of testers, as well as developing AI-based method for game-playing testing and the detection of accessibility issues
Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality (VR/AR)
Here we continue the applied research and development with friends in Crisis Research Centre at our university and with companies like Fynd Reality, and universities like University in Innlandet and Univeristy College Kristiania in Oslo, Norway); see the Interreg-financed project INCREDILAB at https://www.criseit.org/ and example.