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Yes—but only for specific outcomes and with careful design. In a 2021 randomized experiment, teams that played a team video game for 45 minutes performed better on two later team tasks than control teams. Their average improvement was 49.6% versus 20.3% on a geocaching task and 72.1% versus 49.5% on a tower-building task. The same experiment did not find higher team cohesion, so gaming should not be sold as a guaranteed way to make colleagues trust or like one another.
For a workplace session, choose an accessible game that requires real coordination, set a manageable challenge, brief and facilitate the activity, then measure the work outcome you care about. Treat enjoyment as a possible by-product—not proof that the team became more effective.
What did the strongest workplace experiment actually test?
The most directly relevant evidence is a 2021 randomized controlled experiment published in JMIR Serious Games by Mark J. Keith, Douglas L. Dean, James Gaskin and Greg Anderson. Newly formed teams were assigned to one of three conditions: team play in Halo, team play in Rock Band, or a control condition in which members worked alone for the same 45-minute period. The gaming teams competed against other teams rather than merely watching a game or attending a lecture about teamwork.
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How much did gaming improve team-task performance?
The gaming conditions outperformed the control condition on both follow-up tasks. The figures below are the study’s reported average improvements, not a guarantee for every workplace.
| Follow-up task | Teams that played a game | Control teams | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Geocaching | 49.6% average improvement | 20.3% average improvement | 29.3 percentage points |
| Tower building | 72.1% average improvement | 49.5% average improvement | 22.6 percentage points |
The reported treatment test was F1 = 8.760, P = .004. A flow-based model explained 40.6% of performance improvement, compared with 18.5% in earlier related work cited by the authors. A more detailed model explained 62.3% of the variance in team performance across the two tasks. These are model results from that experiment, not predictions of the percentage increase an employer should expect.
Why might a game help a team perform?
The proposed mechanism is flow: focused immersion produced by a task that is demanding but still manageable. The experiment linked focused immersion with better subsequent performance. It also found that heightened enjoyment by itself was associated with lower performance, which is a warning against treating “fun” as the whole design brief.
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Challenge must be demanding, not overwhelming
A beginner who cannot understand the controls is likely to spend the session confused or embarrassed rather than immersed. An expert who dominates every decision may also prevent the team from practicing shared problem-solving. Use a short tutorial, a practice round or adjustable difficulty so the task sits between boredom and overload.
Interdependence is more important than side-by-side play
Participants should need information, timing or decisions from one another. A game in which four people independently chase personal scores gives less opportunity to rehearse coordination than one in which roles, resources or objectives are shared. Competition can add urgency, but it should not replace cooperation inside each team.
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Debriefing turns an activity into a work intervention
After play, ask what information was missed, how decisions were made, who took initiative, and what the group would change on the next attempt. Connect those observations to a real workflow—handoffs, incident response, project planning or customer escalation—without claiming that a metaphor automatically transfers to work.
Does gaming build trust or team cohesion?
Not reliably. The experiment found no increase in broad team cohesion, even though the teams improved on the later tasks. The authors discuss limited task attraction, role-based cooperation and division of labor; those are narrower effects than durable interpersonal closeness.
Keep these outcomes separate when setting goals:
- Follow-up performance: how well the team completes a later task.
- In-game cooperation: coordination while the game is running.
- Task attraction: willingness to engage with the shared assignment.
- Flow: focused immersion during the activity.
- Interpersonal cohesion: a broader, more durable sense of belonging and attachment.
A gaming session may help a new team coordinate for a subsequent assignment. It does not, by itself, repair conflict, resolve a manager’s credibility problem, address harassment, or create lasting friendship. Those issues require management action, psychological-safety work and, where appropriate, professional support.
What does this mean for remote and hybrid teams?
Digital play is logistically attractive for distributed groups because everyone can join from a computer or console, but the direct experiment did not test remote employees in ordinary organizations. A 2022 meta-analysis covering 73 samples and 5,738 organizational teams examined how virtuality relates to productive, performance, social and team-member outcomes. It provides context about technology-mediated teamwork, not proof that a particular video-game session will improve a remote team.
For a hybrid session, put remote and in-room participants in the same voice channel, use identical input and display arrangements where possible, and avoid assigning all decision-making to people in the physical room. Check latency and audio before the event. If a participant cannot use the selected controller, provide an alternative input method or a non-playing role that still carries meaningful responsibility; do not make disability disclosure a prerequisite for accommodation.
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How should an organization design a video-game team-building session?
Start with the outcome and constraints, not with a favorite title. The following sequence keeps the activity tied to a legitimate workplace purpose.
- Define one target outcome. Choose performance, coordination, communication, morale or cohesion. Write down how you will recognize improvement—for example, fewer handoff errors in a simulated process or faster completion of a defined planning exercise.
- Set participation requirements. Record the number of players, available platforms, connection quality, language needs, accessibility requirements, prior gaming experience and comfort with competition. Offer an opt-out path that does not penalize attendance or visibility.
- Select a cooperative or mixed format. Favor games in which teammates exchange information, divide roles and pursue a shared objective. A competitive match can work when teams are balanced and the stakes are light; elimination, public leaderboards and winner-takes-all prizes increase the risk of embarrassment.
- Calibrate the challenge. Use a tutorial or practice round. Adjust difficulty, time limits and team size so beginners can contribute while experienced players still have meaningful decisions. Do not assume that a high-skill mode creates better teamwork.
- Explain the rules and success criteria. State the objective, controls, timebox, communication norms and what happens if the technology fails. Tell participants that the purpose is to practice coordination, not to rank their gaming ability.
- Facilitate actively. Keep teams balanced, watch for one person monopolizing control, and pause between rounds to clarify roles. Have technical support available instead of asking the most experienced player to troubleshoot while also competing.
- Run a structured debrief. Ask each team to identify one decision that improved coordination, one failure in information sharing and one behavior to carry into the work task. Keep the debrief short enough that it remains connected to the experience.
- Measure the chosen outcome. Use a before-and-after task, a short behavioral rating or a process metric that matches the stated goal. Record enjoyment separately; a high enjoyment score cannot substitute for evidence of better coordination or performance.
- Follow up later. Check whether the behavior appears in a real project after the event. A same-day improvement may reflect temporary focus and should not be described as a lasting culture change without later evidence.
Which game formats are most defensible for a workplace?
No single “best multiplayer game” is established by the available evidence. The experiment used Halo and Rock Band, so those titles demonstrate that different genres can support the tested protocol; they do not establish that either title is suitable for every employer.
Cooperative objective games
These ask players to share resources, communicate timing and complete a common mission. They are usually easier to connect to coordination goals, provided the controls and content are accessible to the group.
Music and rhythm formats
A rhythm-based activity can create clear turn-taking and shared timing, as illustrated by the Rock Band condition. Check whether people can participate without specialized physical dexterity and provide a non-playing production or coordination role when needed.
Action-oriented competitive formats
The Halo condition shows that a competitive action game can be part of a controlled team intervention. Its content, pace and violence may be inappropriate for some workplaces, age groups or cultures, and a high skill gap can turn competition into exclusion. Treat it as one possible format, not a default recommendation.
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What are the main risks and how can organizers reduce them?
- Skill disparity: Use role rotation, practice time, adjustable difficulty and teams that mix experience rather than letting one expert play every critical role.
- Accessibility barriers: Check captions, color contrast, remappable controls, motion sensitivity, hearing access and alternative input devices before inviting people.
- Content concerns: Review violence, profanity, in-game chat and cultural themes. Offer an equivalent activity when the content conflicts with an employee’s values or workplace policy.
- Exclusion through competition: Avoid public humiliation, forced participation and prizes that reward only speed or prior gaming experience.
- Technical failure: Test accounts, updates, network capacity, controllers and audio in advance, and prepare an offline coordination exercise as a fallback.
- Physical discomfort: Warn about motion sickness, flashing effects and long headset use; schedule breaks and allow spectators or facilitators to switch roles.
- Privacy and conduct: Use company-approved accounts and communication channels, explain what data or recordings will be retained, and enforce the same respectful-conduct rules that apply to meetings.
- False transfer: Do not infer that a team that wins a match will automatically collaborate better at work. Require a work-linked debrief and a follow-up measure.
How strong is the evidence, and where does it stop?
The 2021 experiment is unusually useful because it was randomized, used two games, included a control condition and assessed two subsequent team tasks. It still has limits: it was conducted in a laboratory, involved newly formed teams, and followed participants for a short period. The authors explicitly call for more work to establish whether the effect generalizes to practical workplace settings.
A publication notice says the randomized study was not prospectively registered and advises readers to assess explicit or implied effectiveness claims carefully. That does not erase the reported results, but it is a reason to avoid universal promises and to measure outcomes locally.
A 2023 systematic review concluded that digital games may support team cohesion or team building while recommending more varied intervention lengths, broader outcome measures, follow-up assessments, more diverse samples and attention to reporting bias and game features. Those recommendations are especially relevant when an employer wants to claim culture or relationship benefits rather than a short-term task effect.
What should a decision-maker conclude?
Video games are a credible option for a structured team-building session when the immediate goal is coordination or performance on a later task. The clearest observed benefit followed a 45-minute team activity with an appropriate challenge and focused immersion. The evidence does not justify promising lasting cohesion, universal morale gains or conflict repair.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How long should a workplace video-game team-building session last?
The controlled experiment used 45 minutes of gameplay before the follow-up tasks, so that is a defensible starting point for a pilot. It is not an established optimum: allow additional time for onboarding, breaks and debriefing, and compare outcomes rather than assuming a longer session is better.
Do employees need to be gamers for the activity to work?
No threshold of prior gaming experience was established as a requirement. A short tutorial, adjustable difficulty and rotating roles can let beginners contribute, while an opt-out or alternative role prevents participation from becoming a test of dexterity.
Can a game-based event fix serious conflict between coworkers?
It should not be used as a substitute for conflict resolution, investigation or management action. Competitive play can intensify existing tensions, so address safety and conduct issues first and use gaming only when the group is ready for a bounded coordination exercise.
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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsWhat should a remote team measure after playing together?
Pick one observable work behavior, such as the time to complete a shared planning task, the number of missed handoffs or a structured communication rating. Measure it before and after the session, then check again on a later project; attendance, laughter or post-event enjoyment alone cannot demonstrate a durable benefit.
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