With a mobile boom, learning games are a $1.5B market headed toward $2.3B by 2017 (exclusive)

Educational games, also known as “serious games,” are going through a renaissance in part because of the acceptance of learning apps on mobile devices. That’s the finding of a new research report by Ambient Insight.

The forecast predicts the Serious Games market, which Ambient calls game-based learning, will grow from $1.5 billion in 2012 to $2.3 billion in 2017. The larger simulation-based learning market, which includes corporate training games, is expected to grow even more from $2.3 billion in 2012 to $6.6 billion in 2017. Altogether, the learning games market will grow from $3.9 billion to $8.9 billion in 2017. Much of the growth will come from apps that target the mobile market.