In response to the ecological crisis, the video game industry began to implement measures to reduce their environmental impact and raise awareness among their users. Among these innovations, the “eco mode” recently introduced in Fortnite.
This game developed by Epic Games implemented an update that reduces graphical quality when players are idle. This modification saves approximately 73 GWh per year, a figure equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of a French city with 30,000 inhabitants. The developer said that this measure seeks to reduce the carbon footprint of the popular video game.
In addition to Fortniteother games are directly addressing environmental issues. Terra Nilreleased in March 2023 for computers, proposes to reconstruct a degraded environment, eliminating all human traces instead of developing a city or an empire. Sam Alfred, one of the creators, explained that the goal is to demonstrate that it is possible to create strategy games without exploiting the environment. This game has more than 300,000 players, according to its distributor, Devolver Digital.
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Another example is Cities: Skylineswhich in 2017 introduced the expansion Green Citiesfocused on the creation of sustainable cities. Mariina Hallikainen, managing director of the Finnish studio Colossal Order, commented that The update polarized the public, receiving criticism for supposedly politicizing the game.
In a 2022 study by Yale Program on Climate Change Communicationit was revealed that 70% of American gamers are concerned about global warming, a percentage higher than the average of the general population, which is 64%. This shows a growing environmental awareness among players.
Fortnite: Reloaded comes with a new map that includes some of the favorite locations of the game’s most passionate fans. Photo: Fortnite.
In addition to reducing energy consumption, the video game industry seeks to integrate environmental themes into the narrative and mechanics of games. Arnaud Fayolle, artistic director at Ubisoft and defender of this trend, mentioned during the Game Developers Conference in March 2023 that Video game designers have the power to speak to 3 billion players and address complex problems in a playful and fun way.
Despite these advances, Benjamin Abraham, a specialist in environmental issues in the video game industry, pointed out that, although climate parameters in games have been improved, It is still difficult to include unpredictable human decisions, such as policies. The 35 largest video game companies emitted more than 81 million tons of CO2 in 2022, a figure that does not include the electricity consumption of players.
The initiative Playing for the Planetreleased in 2019, reflects the commitment of big names in the sector, such as Microsoft and Sony, to reduce their environmental impact. However, Abraham stresses that the situation is still far from ideal.
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*The creation of this content was assisted by artificial intelligence. The information was provided and reviewed by a journalist to ensure accuracy. The content was not generated automatically.
