Do Commercial Video Games Really Build Behavioral Skills?

The short answer

Yes, with conditions. Two decades of psychology research show that commercial video games can build measurable cognitive, emotional and social skills, not just the feeling of having them. How much a game helps depends on three things: its specific mechanics, how the skill is measured, and whether play is paired with reflection or coaching.

The question matters more now than ever. A 2026 expert study on the skills needed in an AI-driven workplace found that the most urgent ones include digital literacy, analytical and critical thinking, and empathy (Müller et al., 2026). Many of those same skills are linked to specific game mechanics in the research below.

A note on authorship: I'm a co-author on several of the studies cited here. I've included them alongside independent work so you can see where they fit in the wider field.

Which cognitive skills do video games improve?

The strongest evidence is for attention, spatial thinking and cognitive flexibility. Several of these findings come from experiments, so they show cause and effect rather than correlation.

Attention. In a landmark Nature study, non-gamers who played an action game for just ten days improved on visual attention tasks (Green & Bavelier, 2003). Later work showed action players process visual information faster without losing accuracy.

Spatial thinking. A meta-analysis of more than 100 studies found that action gamers outperform non-gamers in spatial cognition by a large margin (Bediou et al., 2018). Training studies, which test cause and effect, show smaller but still meaningful gains.

Cognitive flexibility. In a randomized study, people who played the strategy game StarCraft became better at switching between tasks than people who played a life-simulation game (Glass, Maddox & Love, 2013). Another study found that two months of playing Super Mario 64 increased gray matter in brain areas linked to navigation and planning (Kühn et al., 2014).

General intelligence. Researchers in Madrid found that performance on a set of commercial games correlates strongly enough with standard intelligence tests to act as a measure of it (Quiroga et al., 2015). Games can measure ability, not just train it.

Which emotional and social skills do video games build?

This research is younger and more varied, but it points the same way. Games are safe places to fail, recover and try again, and multiplayer games add communication and teamwork on top.

Emotional regulation. A systematic review found that playing commercial games is linked to better mood repair and emotion regulation (Villani et al., 2018). Researchers describe games as a "psychological sandbox": frequent, low-stakes failure lets players practice handling frustration in real time (Granic, Lobel & Engels, 2014).

Prosocial behavior. A large international study found that playing games with prosocial content predicts helpful behavior in real life (Gentile et al., 2009). How people play matters too. Playing cooperatively, rather than competitively, improved later cooperation even when the game itself was violent (Ewoldsen et al., 2012).

Teamwork. In a randomized controlled trial, teams that played video games together showed measurable gains in team-building outcomes (Keith et al., 2021).

There is one caveat. Heavy play was linked to smaller offline social circles in some teenage samples (Kowert et al., 2014). The social benefits are strongest when play is cooperative and shared.

Do video games build workplace behavioral skills?

A growing body of applied research says yes, for skills like communication, adaptability and problem-solving.

The clearest example comes from Matthew Barr at the University of Glasgow. In a randomized trial, students played popular commercial titles such as Portal 2, Minecraft and Borderlands 2 over eight weeks. Compared with a control group, they showed significant gains in communication, adaptability and resourcefulness (Barr, 2017).

Other studies support the pattern:

• A review of strategy games found that challenging gameplay improves problem-solving, and collaborative play improves communication (Lie et al., 2022).
• Research on Rocket League linked its fast, cooperative mechanics to players' development of teamwork and strategic communication (Alloza et al., 2021a).
• Studies of online games like World of Warcraft show players leading large groups toward shared goals and building systems thinking along the way (Steinkuehler & Duncan, 2008; Qian & Clark, 2016).

Do all video games train the same skills?

No. The skills a game builds depend on its mechanics, not on gaming in general. That is useful, because it means you can choose games for the skills you want to develop.

Two major meta-analyses show this clearly. One focused only on action games and found strong effects on attention and spatial skills (Bediou et al., 2018). Another looked at all games together and found small or no effects (Sala, Tatlidil & Gobet, 2018). Grouping every genre together hides what specific mechanics do.

The same is true for social skills. It is a game's prosocial content, or its cooperative structure, that predicts social benefits, not play time alone. University students also report different skill gains depending on which genres they prefer (Alloza et al., 2021b).

Why reflection matters

Games work best as a practice space, not as a stand-alone course. The game provides the experience. Coaching, group debriefs and guided reflection help people name what they did and apply it at work. This follows well-established models of experiential learning (Kolb, 1984; Crookall, 2010).

What are the limits of the evidence?

This is still a young field, and three limits are worth knowing:

• Small samples. Many studies are small. In our own 2025 trial, four groups played commercial games chosen for specific behavioral skills. None of the differences from the control group reached statistical significance, though two came close (Bartolomé et al., 2025). Larger studies are the next step.
• Shared definitions. Researchers are still agreeing on how to define and measure behavioral skills.
• Far transfer. Evidence that games raise general intelligence is weaker than evidence for specific skills (Sala, Tatlidil & Gobet, 2018).

The bottom line

Commercial video games can build real cognitive, emotional and social skills, from attention and spatial thinking to communication and teamwork. The gains are not automatic. They are strongest when games are chosen for their mechanics and paired with coaching and reflection. Used that way, games become an engaging, scalable way to practice the behavioral skills workplaces need most.

References

• Alloza, S., Escribano, F., & Guerrero, A. (2021a). The relation between Rocket League and soft skills and its implication in education processes. In Advances in Game-Based Learning (pp. 128–147). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-7069-2.ch008
• Alloza, S., Escribano, F., & Perez, J. (2021b). Genre differences in soft skills perception and video game usage in the university of Extremadura. In Advances in Human and Social Aspects of Technology (pp. 28–49). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-8089-9.ch003
• Barr, M. (2017). Video games can develop graduate skills in higher education students: A randomised trial. Computers & Education, 113, 86–97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2017.05.016
• Bartolomé, J., del Río, I., Martínez, A., Aranguren, A., Laña, I., & Alloza, S. (2025). Game on: Exploring the potential for soft skill development through video games. Information, 16(10), 918. https://doi.org/10.3390/info16100918
• Bediou, B., Adams, D. M., Mayer, R. E., Tipton, E., Green, C. S., & Bavelier, D. (2018). Meta-analysis of action video game impact on perceptual, attentional, and cognitive skills. Psychological Bulletin, 144(1), 77–110. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000130
• Crookall, D. (2010). Serious games, debriefing, and simulation/gaming as a discipline. Simulation & Gaming, 41(6), 898–920. https://doi.org/10.1177/1046878110390784
• Ewoldsen, D. R., et al. (2012). Effect of playing violent video games cooperatively or competitively on subsequent cooperative behavior. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 15(5), 277–280. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2011.0308
• Gentile, D. A., et al. (2009). The effects of prosocial video games on prosocial behaviors: International evidence from correlational, longitudinal, and experimental studies. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 35(6), 752–763. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167209333045
• Glass, B. D., Maddox, W. T., & Love, B. C. (2013). Real-time strategy game training: Emergence of a cognitive flexibility trait. PLoS ONE, 8(8), e70350. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0070350
• Granic, I., Lobel, A., & Engels, R. C. M. E. (2014). The benefits of playing video games. American Psychologist, 69(1), 66–78. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0034857
• Green, C. S., & Bavelier, D. (2003). Action video game modifies visual selective attention. Nature, 423(6939), 534–537. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01647
• Keith, M. J., Dean, D. L., Gaskin, J., & Anderson, G. (2021). Team building through team video games: Randomized controlled trial. JMIR Serious Games, 9(4), e28896. https://doi.org/10.2196/28896
• Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. Prentice-Hall.
• Kowert, R., Domahidi, E., Festl, R., & Quandt, T. (2014). Social gaming, lonely life? The impact of digital game play on adolescents' social circles. Computers in Human Behavior, 36, 385–390. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2014.04.003
• Kühn, S., Gleich, T., Lorenz, R. C., Lindenberger, U., & Gallinat, J. (2014). Playing Super Mario induces structural brain plasticity: Gray matter changes resulting from training with a commercial video game. Molecular Psychiatry, 19(2), 265–271. https://doi.org/10.1038/mp.2013.120
• Lie, A., Stephen, A., Supit, L. R., & Sutoyo, R. (2022). Using strategy video games to improve problem solving and communication skills: A systematic literature review. In 2022 4th International Conference on Cybernetics and Intelligent System (ICORIS). https://doi.org/10.1109/ICORIS56080.2022.10031539
• Müller, M., et al. (2026). Exploring the significance of soft skills development for addressing challenges of AI-driven technological society: A veil of ignorance thought experiment. Journal of Workplace Learning, 38(9), 102–126. https://doi.org/10.1108/JWL-09-2025-0322
• Qian, M., & Clark, K. R. (2016). Game-based learning and 21st century skills: A review of recent research. Computers in Human Behavior, 63, 50–58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.05.023
• Quiroga, M. A., et al. (2015). Can we reliably measure the general factor of intelligence (g) through commercial video games? Yes, we can! Intelligence, 53, 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2015.08.004
• Sala, G., Tatlidil, K. S., & Gobet, F. (2018). Video game training does not enhance cognitive ability: A comprehensive meta-analytic investigation. Psychological Bulletin, 144(2), 111–139. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000139
• Steinkuehler, C., & Duncan, S. (2008). Scientific habits of mind in virtual worlds. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 17(6), 530–543. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-008-9120-8
• Villani, D., Carissoli, C., Triberti, S., Marchetti, A., Gilli, G., & Riva, G. (2018). Videogames for emotion regulation: A systematic review. Games for Health Journal, 7(2), 85–99. https://doi.org/10.1089/g4h.2017.0108

‍