Here’s a question worth asking: when was the last time your compliance training felt less like a box-checking exercise and more like something people actually wanted to complete?
Mandatory training is a necessary evil, often seen as something to endure, not engage with. But what if the training that employees dread most could become the training they talk about at lunch?
Meeting a Different Kind of Learning Studio
I recently connected with Deirdre Jensen, Managing Director of Game2Change Learning, a South African learning consultancy that’s been quietly building a reputation for game-based training solutions over the past decade. What caught my attention was their approach to solving one of corporate learning’s most persistent problems: how do you make required training genuinely engaging? The Brandon Hall Group Institute™ offers research, courses and certifications that help companies tackle problems like this and Game2Change does a great job.
Game2Change has evolved from Deirdre’s initial work with physical board games into a full-service learning design studio. They’ve landed projects with major South African banks, delivered programs to over 22,000 employees, and are now scaling their approach across Africa. With a lean staff and a tight network of contractors, they’re navigating the classic boutique agency challenge: how to grow without sacrificing quality.
Their value proposition centers on immersive, game-based learning experiences — particularly for compliance training and employee onboarding. Rather than clicking through slide after slide of policy information, learners engage with Unity-developed games, scenario-based simulations, and (currently in beta) an AI tutor for onboarding programs.
The South African Learning Tech Landscape
To understand Game2Change’s positioning, it helps to map the competitive terrain they’re navigating:
New Leaf Technologies represents the established player in this market. They offer comprehensive LMS platforms (aNewSpring, New Leaf LMS), adaptive learning technology, and are Africa’s exclusive certified Articulate training provider. Their Training Intelligence System won recognition at the 2024 Learning Technologies Awards in London. New Leaf brings scale, established vendor partnerships, and sophisticated analytics — but their platform-first approach means custom content creation is one service among many rather than their primary focus.
Anderson Studios specializes in creative eLearning development with emphasis on health and safety, aviation training, and HR induction programs. They use advanced instructional design and multimedia production capabilities. However, their focus remains primarily on traditional eLearning formats rather than Unity-based game development, and they serve more established enterprise clients than mid-market organizations.
Design Connection (Cape Town-based) offers custom eLearning and LMS development with growing gamification capabilities. They work with international clients and bring strong technical development skills. Their limitation is scale — they’re a small team building capacity gradually rather than specializing deeply in specific training domains.
OES (formerly Construct Education with operations in both Cape Town and the U.S.) focuses on inclusive, accessible learning design for higher education and professional development. They bring pedagogical rigor and production capabilities but aren’t positioned as game-based learning specialists targeting the corporate compliance market.
The broader market includes HR suite providers focused on administrative functions, generic eLearning vendors with off-the-shelf content, and freelance Storyline developers who can execute projects but lack the strategic consulting layer. This creates a gap: organizations seeking custom, immersive compliance and onboarding solutions without the overhead of large platform implementations or the limitations of template-based content.
When You Actually Want to Build Games for Learning
Game2Change’s technical approach differentiates them in three specific ways:
Unity-Developed Learning Games: While many providers add gamification elements (points, badges, leaderboards) to traditional eLearning, Game2Change builds actual games using Unity—the same engine behind mobile hits like Among Us and Genshin Impact. Their data privacy training for a major South African bank features a lighthouse keeper game where learners must correctly match ship names and transmissions to understand data accuracy principles. The game changes each playthrough, includes three mini-games teaching different privacy principles, and connects to leaderboards for organizational awareness campaigns. This approach transforms “getting names and surnames correct” — potentially the most mundane compliance topic imaginable — into an engaging challenge where failure means trying again rather than clicking “next” without comprehension.
Diagnostic-Led Onboarding Framework: Rather than starting with solutions, Game2Change’s Ignite Onboarding program begins with a structured diagnostic conducted over 10 working days. They survey new hires, interview managers, consult with recruitment partners, and assess organizational maturity across the onboarding journey. The deliverable is a gap analysis showing what’s missing, what can be enhanced, and what might be outsourced — essentially acting as both consultant and implementation partner. For mid-market companies (their current focus), this diagnostic approach addresses a critical pain point: they know their onboarding isn’t working, but they don’t have internal L&D expertise to diagnose why or design solutions.
Embedded Learning Measurement: Game2Change has inadvertently created demand for something that should be standard but often isn’t: measuring learning effectiveness. Using Kirkpatrick’s framework, they’ve built measurement components into their projects and seen organic demand emerge. One compliance program showed 86.59% of learners (from a 500-person sample) reported having skills they could apply immediately. Another program demonstrated a 17% increase between pre- and post-assessment for the test group, plus a 5% improvement versus the control group. Organizations are now approaching them specifically for measurement services on existing programs — not because it’s innovative, but because it’s rare to find learning partners who can quantify impact.
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Who Actually Needs Game-Based Compliance Training?
Game2Change’s ideal customer profile has sharpened considerably as they’ve moved from bespoke consulting to scalable offerings:
Banking and Financial Services Organizations
- South African banks facing increasingly complex regulatory environments (FICA, data privacy, market conduct)
- Need to train thousands of employees on compliance requirements that change frequently
- Value game-based approaches that improve knowledge retention versus annual “check the box” training
- Benefit from built-in measurement showing compliance program effectiveness to regulators
Contact Centers and High-Turnover Operations
- Organizations hiring and onboarding constantly, where poor onboarding directly impacts customer experience
- Need rapid time-to-productivity (measured in weeks, not months)
- Require scalable programs that don’t depend on manager availability for every new hire
- Game-based elements help maintain engagement during repetitive training on systems and processes
Mid-Market African Companies (500-5,000 Employees)
- Growing beyond founder-led approaches but lacking dedicated L&D teams
- Face compliance requirements (cybersecurity, data privacy) without internal expertise to build training
- Price-sensitive to dollar-based international solutions; seek regional providers who understand local context
- Need diagnostic help identifying gaps before investing in solutions
Tech Companies and SaaS Scale-Ups
- Attracting technical talent (data scientists, developers) who have high expectations for learning experiences
- Use onboarding as competitive differentiation in talent markets
- Value cultural immersion games that build cross-functional understanding quickly
- Willing to invest in higher-touch programs that reduce early turnover
Pan-African Operations
- Organizations expanding across African markets (Kenya, Botswana, multiple countries)
- Need compliance training adapted to different regulatory environments
- Benefit from Game2Change’s experience working across African markets with varying infrastructure
- Prefer mobile-first design given connectivity challenges in some regions
Scaling Boutique Expertise: The Strategic Challenge
Game2Change finds itself at an inflection point that many specialized service firms face: they’ve proven their approach works, built a client roster of respected brands, and won external validation through awards like our Excellence in Technology program. Now they’re working to transform boutique expertise into scalable offerings without losing the quality that built their reputation.
Their strategic bet on two focused verticals — compliance training and onboarding — makes sense. Both are universal organizational needs where “good enough” template solutions often fail. Compliance training fails when people don’t retain information or can’t apply it to real situations. Onboarding fails when new hires disengage, don’t understand culture, or take too long to become productive. Game-based approaches address these failure modes directly.
The challenge is execution: moving from time-and-materials custom work to productized offerings with templates, reusable components, and diagnostic frameworks that reduce the design burden for each new client. Their Ignite Onboarding diagnostic represents this thinking — a structured process they can repeat with contextual customization rather than building from scratch each time.
The African market opportunity is real but requires patient capital and systematic market development. Organizations in many African markets are just beginning to digitize training programs that were previously in-person or paper-based. Game2Change’s experience working across infrastructure constraints (variable connectivity, mobile-first requirements, price sensitivity to dollar-based pricing) positions them well — but scaling requires investment in sales processes, marketing systems, and people ahead of revenue.
Game2Change represents an interesting case study: a regional specialist with deep expertise in specific domains (compliance, onboarding) who brings differentiated capabilities (Unity game development, measurement frameworks) but operates in markets where traditional enterprise software pricing doesn’t work. Their next two Brandon Hall Group Excellence Awards submissions will provide additional validation and case study material as they scale — particularly valuable as they pursue mid-market clients who need proof of concept before committing.
The broader lesson for L&D leaders: when evaluating learning partners, look beyond feature checklists to ask what problems they’re distinctively equipped to solve. Template-based compliance training is cheap and fast — but if it doesn’t change behavior or improve retention, it’s not solving your problem. Game2Change’s approach costs more upfront but addresses the actual challenge: making required training something people engage with rather than click through.
As Africa’s corporate learning market continues maturing, organizations like Game2Change represent a different path forward: not massive platforms or global consulting firms, but specialized studios bringing specific technical capabilities (game development, learning design, measurement) to persistent problems that technology alone doesn’t solve.
For learning leaders considering partners for compliance or onboarding programs—particularly those operating in emerging markets or serving mid-market organizations — Game2Change’s combination of game-based design, diagnostic consulting, and measurement focus warrants evaluation. Connect with them at game2change.com to explore whether their approach aligns with your specific challenges.
And if you’re working on innovative programs worth sharing with the broader L&D community, consider submitting to our Brandon Hall Group Excellence Awards — it’s how we discovered Game2Change’s work in the first place, and how we continue identifying organizations pushing learning effectiveness forward.
