The intersection of digital gaming and sustainability is gradually becoming an area of responsibility from an area of interest for gaming companies, developers, and gamers alike. Loosely dubbed as “internet pollution”, online gaming contributes to 3.7 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. That being said, the nascent nature of the online gaming sector gives it the opportunity to address these issues in the long run by starting early, contributing to the national targets, and setting formal emissions targets and climate goals, stated the India Gaming Report 2024 by Interactive Entertainment and Innovation Council and Winzo. It is also pertinent to note that such responsible standards for gaming can make the Indian gaming cluster more attractive for global consumers and investors alike.
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At the global level, agencies like the United Nations (UN) are leveraging the dynamic game community for initiatives like “Playing for the Planet Alliance”. Playing for the Planet is an alliance that supports the online gaming industry in taking action to reduce its environmental impact.
To combat their overall carbon emissions, the gaming community is focusing on transforming, both the game development process and game play, into a greener venture while also creating environmental awareness. Industry players such as Sony and Guerilla Games have started initiatives like “Plant and Play” wherein trees are planted as part of game achievements for games like “Horizon Forbidden West”.68 At the global level, agencies like the United Nations (UN) are also leveraging the dynamic game community for initiatives like “Playing for the Planet Alliance”.
Playing for the Planet is an alliance that supports the online gaming industry in taking action to reduce its environmental impact. By joining the Alliance alongside the UN Environment Program (UNEP), gaming companies (console and online) and gaming studios have made specific and measurable commitments towards reducing carbon emissions, integrating green activations in games, and supporting the global environmental agenda. They aim to do this through coordinated action through annual events such as the Green Game Jam (GGJ), which brings together the gaming ecosystem to incorporate “green activations” within their games as part of fundraising and awareness.70 Such initiatives not only engage larger audiences and create awareness, but also offer a chance to explore new avenues of game development via “green nudges” as well.
Green Innovations in Game Development
Game design itself can also be a powerful tool to drive significant change at the intersection of gaming and sustainability. Alongside in-game based donations, companies can also aim to streamline their corporate funding to assist with climate sensitive initiatives. Industry actors such as Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo are aiming for ambitious environmental goals in order to address their carbon footprint. Sony is aiming for zero environmental footprint by 2050 whereas Microsoft is planning to be carbon negative by 2030.71 Studios are aiming to do this by implementing environmentally conscious products and services with regular monitoring and compliance with formal standards. Due to gaming’s (console and online) reliance on data centers which are known to be carbon intensive, the industry realizes the importance of coming up with innovative methods to reduce their carbon footprint.
In India, given the size of the online gaming industry, it is important for industry leaders to collaborate with each other and collectively address their carbon impact by streamlining investments in greener initiatives such as the GGJ. Additionally, players also need to be made aware of the issues of climate change. The way developers can address this is by creating environmentally focused games. One such 2D puzzle-based game is Samudra, which takes players across an adventure in a polluted sea to uncover truths about “surface-dweller” actions causing deepsea pollution.72 The game also offers opportunities to make offline contributions to various environmentally conscious causes and funds. This combination of in-game education coupled with offline donation practices makes the game an interactive yet impactful product that’s fun to play while creating positive change.
Gaming for Climate: Industry-Driven Initiatives
In terms of funding greener initiatives, a lot remains to be done in India. However, given the size of the industry and the diversity of online gaming companies and studios, the outlook is positive. Embracing global standards can be a good starting point for India. Playing for the Planet alongside UK Interactive Entertainment (UKIE) published a Green Games Guide which addresses how gaming companies across the board can reduce their environmental footprint and collectively address their climate goals. The call for action highlights the importance for the industry to act together to meaningfully address their emissions. Indian studios and large developers would do well to start measuring their own carbon footprints, while simultaneously funding products, projects and initiatives that help the environment. A great way for industry to do this would be to target a common emissions commitment by 2030, add “call to action” features to their games while also participating in and sponsoring global climate events such as Conference Of Parties (COP) for the climate agreements.
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