Based on earlier games research in the 1990s, the first games research projects in the earlier Hypermedia Laboratory started in 2000, and the Game Research Lab was founded in 2002. Today, Game Research Lab is located at the Tampere Research Center for Information and Media (TRIM), and is part of the Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences.
The current portfolio of Game Research Lab’s research projects has particular focus on comprehensive studies of game and play cultures, player communities, game production, and also on emerging phenomena such as esports. Gamelab is actively combining various methodologies and conducting highly interdisciplinary research while also promoting Game Studies as an established, dedicated field of scholarship focused on games and play experiences. Active in national and international collaborations, the Gamelab research group has organised national and international game studies conferences and seminars, and played important role in the establishment of the Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA) to facilitate and coordinate the international community of academics working in Game Studies.
Current and past research projects:
- Centre of Excellence in Game Culture Studies (2018–2025)
- Gamework: Game Production Studies Initiative (2017–)
- Hybrid Social Play (2016–2018)
- Ludification of Culture and Society (2014–2018)
- Neuroeconomics of Gaming
- OASIS: Playful Spaces for Learning and Collaboration at Work
- Koukku – Sales Psychology to Games, Game Psychology to Selling
- Free2Play (2013–2015)
- Peliteollisuuden kulttuurit
- Gaming Behaviour (partnership with Norsk Tipping)
- FUN (joint US-Finland SAVI partnership project)
- Exercise game research in Active Learning Spaces project
- Hybridex, strategic research initiative into playful hybrid user experiences
- Research of spaces for playful innovation in RYM / Indoor Environments
- Play Society – part of the Next Media consortium
- Triangle: The Challenges of Social Media to the Design of Game Services
- Creation of Game Cultures: The Case of Finland (CG-Cult)
- Transformation of Digital Play (TDP); includes GaIn and SoPlay subprojects
- Youth Spaces and the Alpine Tundra Regions (YOUSAT)
- Alliance Spearhead project on Future Learning and Game Studies (LeGaResearch)
- Games as Services (GaS, Pelit palveluiksi)
- Verkkorahapelaamisen muodonmuutos (VerMu)
- International Study of Games Cultures (InGa)
- Mobile Learning Environments (MLE)
- Learning by Hybrid Media (LeHMa)
- GameSpace: A Method for Design and Evaluation of Mobile Multiplayer Games
- Method for evaluating player experience (MEPE)
- Verkossa pelaamisen erityisongelmia ja suojatekijöitä (VEPE)
- Integrated Project on Pervasive Gaming (IPerG)
- SUPER – research into the game cultures and the design principles of lottery games
- PETO – a study into gameplay experience, gaming habits and control of gaming among children and their families
- MC2 – Mobile Content Communities, research into the role of user created content for the future of mobile games