What is war gaming?

War gaming is a structured exercise in which teams role-play the market: one group plays your company, others play named competitors, and each round of moves — a price cut, a launch, a partnership — forces the others to respond. The point is to stress-test your strategy against thinking opponents before real ones do it for you.

A useful war game depends entirely on how well the competitor teams know their assigned rival — their pricing logic, roadmap signals, and past behavior — which is why it works best on top of solid competitor profiles. Even a half-day version reliably surfaces the uncomfortable question every plan needs: “what do we do when they respond?”