Greener video gaming: How a massive industry is changing itself and the world

Have Subway Surfers caught a whole new wave?

The makers of the most downloaded video games in the world – including Sybo, creators of Subway Surfers, and Rovio, the company behind Angry Birds – have committed to take measurable steps to fight climate change. They were spurred to action in part by a groundbreaking report co-produced by GRID-Arendal and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). The ‘Playing for the Planet’ report, originally released in March of this year, spotlighted how video game companies have enormous potential to help the world move toward sustainability – and just a few months later, many of those companies stepped up to start doing their part. 

CEOs from Sony Interactive Entertainment, Microsoft, Google Stadia, Supercell, and nine other AAA gaming firms and platforms (each with at least 5 million players) announced climate commitments at the UN Climate Action Summit, held on the occasion of the UN General Assembly at UN Headquarters in New York, September 23, 2019. This event launched the Playing for the Planet Alliance (P4P), which will support the gaming industry in working toward UNEP goals and tackling global challenges far more ambitious than any one company would otherwise attempt alone. 

GRID-Arendal Senior Economist Trista Patterson, lead author of the report, noted the scale of the group’s ambition. ‘The alliance has already accelerated new corporate climate actions. Working together can create astoundingly rapid, transformative change’, she said. ‘Folks from this industry revel in a challenge and they’re bringing creative, global, group-think solutions to the table’. 

Altogether, 21 companies, which reach a combined 970 million gamers, have joined the alliance and publicly set new green goals for themselves. A few highlights:

• Microsoft pledged to cut its game-related supply chain emissions 30 per cent by 2030 and launch a pilot program to certify 825,000 Xbox consoles as carbon neutral.
• Sony Interactive will introduce low-power suspend mode for the next generation of its PlayStation.
• Supercell, Rovio, Sybo and Space Ape will offset at least part of the CO2 emissions resulting from their players’ gaming activities, with some companies pledging to go carbon-neutral and sharing their methodologies.
• Wild Works and Green Man Gaming will invest in tree-planting initiatives.

Companies participating in the P4P Alliance include Creative Mobile, E-Line Media, Google Stadia, Green Man Gaming, iDreamSky, Internet of Elephants, Microsoft, Niantic Inc, Pixelberry, Reliance Games, Rovio, Space Ape, Sports Interactive, Supercell, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Strange Loop, Sybo, Twitch, Ubisoft, and WildWorks.

Along with these behind-the-scenes efforts, a number of the companies will also incorporate messages into games to help players become more aware and proactive, such as encouraging the use of power strips to save energy. Some games will focus on immersive play, such as Microsoft’s Build a Better World Campaign, while Creative Mobile will evolve its ZooCraft game to focus on wildlife conservation.

The gaming companies’ commitments earned headlines in major media outlets. An Associated Press article about the Playing for the Planet Alliance appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, ABC News, and more than 2500 other publications around the world.

After this round of commitments, the P4P Alliance will work with member companies to take their climate action to the next level. They will share ideas and best practices for making gaming greener. GRID-Arendal and UNEP are partnering with companies to produce guidance materials for game developers on how to make their operations more climate-friendly, by taking steps like documenting their carbon footprints and switching to renewable energy, and how to successfully incorporate awareness and action into games. Google’s new Stadia game-streaming service will fund research on nudges. And all guidance produced via the P4P Alliance will be shared publicly.