This War of Mine will be added to school reading list in Poland
"I don't think we've ever encountered a game being officially included in the educational system on a national level as school reading"
11 bit Studios' This War of Mine will be placed on the official reading list for schools in Poland, the first video game to be recognised in that way.
The decision was the outcome of a campaign launched in early 2019. The inclusion of This War of Mine on the recommended reading list for Polish students has now been confirmed by the country's prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki.
"Of course, games are already being used in education for teaching maths, chemistry, and developing cognitive abilities, but I don't think we've ever encountered a game being officially included in the educational system on a national level as school reading," said 11 bit Studios CEO Grzegorz Miechowski in a statement.
"I'm proud to say 11 bit Studios' work can add to the development of education and culture in our country."
This War of Mine, which was first released in 2014, drew on the experiences of the Bosnian people during the Siege of Sarajevo in the 1990s. It won widespread acclaim for its realistic portrayal of the human cost of war, and had sold more than 4.5 million units in April 2019.
The game will be included in the Polish reading list for the 2020/21 academic year, but will only be available to students aged 18 and above due to its age rating in the country.
It will be recommended for those studying sociology, ethics, philosophy, and history, and will be available to students of those subjects for free.
To mark the game's fifth anniversary, 11 bit Studios' Paweł Feldman wrote an article for GamesIndustry.biz about keeping This War of Mine relevant years after it launched -- you can read Feldman's piece here.