Today, Xbox has launched its new Beyond Xbox: Field Trips scheme; educational podcasts aimed at teaching kids soft skills and based on popular Game Pass titles.
These podcasts, launching at 3pm on Spotify, aim to teach children the soft skills like problem solving, team building, communication, and analytical thinking. The games these podcasts will be based on include Minecraft, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Sea of Thieves, Grounded, PowerWash Simulator, Age of Empires 4, and Cities: Skylines. There will be seven games the podcasts take inspiration from in total.
Grounded will teach kids about problem solving and analytical thinking, while Minecraft will give lessons on creativity and innovation. PowerWash Simulator will help kids learn about motivation and prioritisation, and Age of Empires 4 will impart words of wisdom on strategy and decision making.
Sea of Thieves will get kids stuck into teamwork and delegation, Flight Simulator will be used to train focus and diligence, and Cities: Skylines will teach kids about planning and adaptability.
The Beyond Xbox: Field Trips podcasts have been created with narrative game designers, child psychologists, teachers, and educational technology specialists. Xbox has also partnered with Ukie’s Digital Schoolhouse, which reaches 200,000 kids in 2,000 schools in the U.K..
Shahneila Saeed, the director of Digital Schoolhouse and head of education at Ukie said, “We’re very excited to be supporting such an original and unique program, using games to develop the skills of young people. I can’t wait to see how these audio learning journeys are implemented in our Digital Schoolhouse network over the coming months, and the impact that they will have.”
This initiative shows Xbox is serious about its goals to appeal to Gen Z. Phil Spencer has recently spoken about creating an Xbox handheld device, as well as having more digital storefronts on the system, such as Itch.io.