Resources

Playing for the Planet’s first piece of guidance for video game storytellers empowers developers to identify and harness opportunities to integrate themes of climate, nature, and the environment into narratives to reach new levels of commercial and critical success, all while inspiring positive change for our planet.

‍

Written in collaboration with NRDC's Rewrite the Future and Context Collaborative (home of The Hollywood Climate Summit), this is a guide for studios who want to tell powerful, engaging, and commercially successful stories that speak to current audiences about the world we’re living in.

‍

This guidance is intended as a resource for Playing for the Planet members and games industry businesses alike for navigating the process of setting credible net zero
targets. It aims to support studios no matter where they are on their journey.

‍

Created with members of the Playing for the Planet Alliance, the guide provides technical and practical support to studios no matter where they are on their decarbonisation journey.

‍

This report presents our research as we explore how games have the potential to shift players in pro-environmental directions with intention, and eventually, at scale. Our findings are the result of working with 3 studios engaging over 58,000 players.

‍

We’ve written up our findings for developers and researchers so that we can continue to learn together. Read on to learn the top takeaways from our work connected to Playing for the Planet’s Green Game Jam 2024 and hear how we hope to improve these research efforts in the future.

Playing for the Planet’s Carbon Calculator is a validated, user-friendly carbon accounting tool which has been built with and for studios, publishers, and other games industry organisations to facilitate accurate footprinting and address the emissions in need of greatest attention.

‍

The calculator has been developed with The Carbon Trust alongside input from Playing for the Planet Alliance members, and enables studios to measure emissions and take action in alignment with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol.

‍

Developed and written by members of the Alliance, this guide brings together best practice from event and sustainability experts across the games industry - providing valuable guidance, informative case studies, and easy-to-use checklists for event organisers seeking to improve the environmental impact of their gatherings.

‍

Through this resource, we hope to help games industry event organisers put sustainability at the heart of their planning, demonstrating leadership in sustainable events management and inspiring change across the events industry at large.

‍

Untangling the carbon complexities of the video gaming industry is the first report of its kind, commissioned in support of the Playing for the Planet Alliance.

‍

The report addresses the uncertainty in the application of the GHG Protocol accounting and reporting standards to organisations in the video gaming sector, acting as a valuable guide for video games businesses on applying GHG accounting standards to their emissions measurement and reduction process.

‍

In response, Playing for the Planet prepared this document with the support from the United Nations Environment Programme to share key principles to guide decisions on carbon credit programme selection, that have been based upon guidance from the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM).

‍

While there have been a series of articles challenging the efficacy of some carbon credit programmes, the recommendation is to invest in carbon credits that meet set criteria in order to compensate unabated emissions as part of a Net Zero 2050 plan

.

Discover the Xbox Sustainability Toolkit, a comprehensive resource designed to help game developers create energy-efficient and more environmentally friendly games. This toolkit offers practical tools, insights, and best practices to reduce the carbon footprint of game development without degrading gameplay fidelity.

‍

By integrating these sustainable strategies, developers can contribute to a greener future while maintaining high-quality gaming experiences. Ready to make a positive impact? Click the button below to learn more and start your journey towards more sustainable game development!

‍

‍

Written by sustainability champions from two of the Alliance’s founding members, Jude Ower (Playmob) and Mathias Nørvig (Sybo), Gaming for Good explores the transformative potential of video games to drive positive change in society, including progress on the climate crisis.

‍

From fostering empathy through immersive storytelling to activating player communities into global movements for social causes, Gaming for Good highlights the many ways players and developers are using their passion and help change the world for the better.

‍

A Drawdown-Aligned Framework for the Gaming Industry is a guide for gaming software employees who are on sustainability teams or are generally climate-concerned to understand the high-impact actions that will align their companies with drawdown—the future point in time when levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere stop climbing and start to steadily decline.

‍

The guide includes a framework for action, real-life examples, and key gaps and barriers the industry currently faces. With this information in hand, employees can encourage colleagues and decision-makers to integrate the framework into their work, self-evaluate their company’s climate targets, work with leadership to strive for more ambitious climate goals, and formulate sustainable long-term strategies.

‍

A  landmark research paper from the the International Game Developer's Association's Climate Special Interest Group (IGDA Climate SIG) that explicitly connects environmental psychology to best practices in game design for the purpose of co-creating a common design language for discussing climate action in games.

‍

Built by game developers for game developers, in partnership with researchers, climate activists, and people who love games, this initial release details 4 key predictors of pro-environmental behaviours and 19 design tactics.

‍

Are you interested in games and nature? Have you ever wondered how games impact the natural environment? Do you want to find out how game developer communities address the climate crisis?

‍

In the “Green Transition at Play” report, Playing for the Planet member STRATEGIES unpacks social and environmental sustainability in the European video and board game industries. The report provides a systematic overview of diverse sustainability-related information: underpinning frameworks, guidelines and initiatives, EU policies, design tools and green games. The aim of the report is to better understand the picture around sustainability issues in the context of games.

‍