Cross-pollination, for the non-scientific, is one of the key foundations of biodiversity on Earth. It is evolution in action—responsible for reinforcing the traits that make plants stronger and ensuring the survival of many species.

On a far smaller scale—but equally crucial, from a business point of view—technology applications that move across industry delineation generally gets stronger. The traits that make great tech awesome in one domain combined with the unique use cases and experience of another domain result in more powerful and more flexible technology. And it’s not just a one-way street. Tech often moves back and forth across industry segments, and each time it crosses the line, its DNA improves. That means that, ultimately, the original domain tends to be strengthened by cross-pollination, too.

This is exactly what’s happened with gaming development technology in recent years. And I’m not just talking about best practices. I’m talking about actual purpose-built gaming development technology that’s spread across and penetrated into industries like automotive, e-commerce, entertainment, architecture, real estate and more.

This cross-pollination has left top-tier gaming tech players like Epic’s Unreal and Unity in a vastly superior position. In fact, it seems that cross-pollination is becoming an integral part of the growth strategy for these and other gaming tech companies. They’re not only betting their tools will shape the next generation of user experience in multiple industries–they’re also making strategic acquisitions that will make this happen.

What Does Cross-Pollination Look Like?

Cross-pollination of gaming tech takes a number of forms–some quite overt, others more subtle. For example:

The gamification of mobility–Gaming tech is bringing a new level of interactivity and visualization to the automotive industry. For visualizing self-driving, safety testing, visualizing automotive components, creating online showroom visualizations of vehicle interiors and more–gaming tech is deeply integrated into automotive development, manufacturing and retail.

The gamification of entertainment–Game development tools are revolutionizing the way entertainment companies develop content. From scene development based on a gaming methodology and gaming engines, to an entire popular series shot in one location using Unreal–gaming tech has radically changed the scene and series development pipeline.

The gamification of business software–The gamification of business software is streamlining processes, training and workflows. From companies like Invrsion, which offers game-like virtual reality tools for retail, to Salesforce, which adopted a game motif for key training—business functionality augmented by gaming tech and gaming user experience enhancements are becoming standard.

The gamification of education–Learners learn best when they’re having fun–and also when they have goals, targets and achievements to reach for. Sites like Khan Academy and apps like Duolingo have brought gaming tech and methodologies into the virtual classroom, changing paradigms for educators and learners alike.

The gamification of everything else–Shopping for clothes online during lockdown? The functionality that lets you “try on” garments is based on gaming tech. Designing a new pharmaceutical molecule using VR augmentation? Gaming tech. Urban design? Yep—gaming tech. And the list goes on.

Why Gaming? A Unique Technology Incubator

The question that companies in any industry should be asking is: why is gaming able to create such powerful, flexible and inspiring tech that lends itself so well to cross-pollination?

The answer is multifaceted. First off, gamers are out-of-the-box thinkers, to say the least, and game developers–well, they broke the box before the gamers even got there. Gaming tech was born in a development environment on steroids—tight schedules, computing intensive processing, insane competition and frequent release cycles. This makes for a space that’s both receptive to new tech and open to new ways of doing things.

Secondly, gaming is a ridiculously dynamic industry that is undergoing incredible growth, and the pandemic has only accelerated this trend. More money coming in translates to more investment in developing, improving or acquiring tech, as well as to launching more and more new games.

Finally, in the gaming world, human resources cross-pollination is built in. Game developers move between studios all the time. This spreads tech advancements like–pardon the sensitive reference–a virus. Because if something worked well for you in one job, you’re going to want to use it in your next position.

The Takeaway

In both the natural and business worlds, cross-pollination is necessary for survival. Gaming tech is leaking into other industries for one key reason: it is frequently superior. And this cross-pollination of gaming tech benefits both the industries that adopt it and the gaming industry itself.