Last week our team was in Lisbon, chasing the same question everyone at Web Summit seemed to be obsessed with.

Where is engagement heading next?

What will shape user behaviour in the next years?

And what will finally replace the one-size-fits-all content formats that brands still rely on?

After four days of talks, demos and hallway conversations, the picture became very clear.

The future of engagement is completely tailored experience and personalization. Not “Hello, John” personalization. But fully adaptive experiences that react to who the person is, what they want and how they behave in real time.

This shift is happening faster than most marketers realise. You could feel it at Web Summit in every corner.

Startup booths showing LLM-driven product recommenders. Enterprise platforms talking about autonomous agents. Creative studios showing adaptive storytelling where every click changes the narrative.

For gamification and engagement tools, this changes are already seen in customer-oriented applications. A great local example for instance is Junior Toys AI app that is unique and personalised for each vistior.

For years, gamification relied on fixed mechanics. A quiz had one (or couple) flow for everyone. A game had one difficulty curve. A reward system treated all users the same.

That era is ending. And AI is the reason why.

Large Language Models allow us to build tools that adapt in real time.

This means a quiz that changes questions based on your previous knowledge level. A game that adjusts difficulty depending on your play style. A story that rewrites itself based on your tone, not just your answers. A reward system that learns which motivations you respond to.

Engagement mechanics become a living system instead of a predefined structure.

This is the direction gamification is moving toward. Instead of giving everyone the same puzzle, challenge or quiz, AI will create a unique path for each person.

Mechanics will be modular. Content dynamically generated. Difficulty personalised. Visuals adapted. Rewards tailored.

Not just at the start, but continuously as the user interacts with the experience.

The result will be better customer experience, deeper attention and richer data.

Every choice becomes a micro-signal. Every adaptation becomes a better fit. And every user gets an experience that feels like it was made specifically for them.

That’s the future we saw in Lisbon. Brands will gamification to understand, segment and genuinely connect with users on an individual level.

Engagement won’t be linear. It will be fluid. It will be co-created between the player and the system.

And it will feel human, not mechanical.

Dont believe us?

See some amazing edutainment examples where first steps into total personalisation are slowly visible.

If you want to explore how mass-personalised engagement could work for your brand, let’s sit down for a discovery coffee.

We’ll bring the technology ideas. You bring the engagement challenge.

See a short brainylab reel from Web Summit 2025 https://youtube.com/shorts/vX5bKeIvJF8?si=w8nTJ2voDZtVikRt