Celebrating five years of Playing for the Planet

Five years ago today, games industry leaders gathered together at the United Nations General Assembly in New York to launch Playing for the Planet, an Alliance of studios, publishers, and other games industry organisations committed to taking action on the environment. 

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Back then, this new group was a small but mighty cohort of 21 members. Fast forward to 2024, and Playing for the Planet’s membership is now fifty members strong, encompassing trade associations, hardware manufacturers, indie studios, and many more. 

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This diverse and ever-growing community of sustainability champions reflects just how far the Alliance has come over the last five years, but also how this progress has only been achieved thanks to the dedication and hard work of its members, who continue lead the way in transitioning the games industry towards a more sustainable future.

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To celebrate this milestone, let’s look back on some highlights of Playing for the Planet for the last 5 years: 

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• There have been five annual Green Game Jams since the launch of the Alliance, starting with the first in 2020, and each subsequent edition scaling up in both ambition and scope. It’s been inspiring to witness the hundreds of Green Activations that participating studios have put together through these jams, and the results have catalysed millions of players into taking action on the environment. 

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• In partnership with The Carbon Trust, the Alliance explored the emissions boundaries for the games industry, publishing its findings in Playing for the Planet’s Untangling report in 2023, which itself set the stage for the development of an industry-tailored carbon calculator for studios, publishers, and other games industry organisations to measure their emissions. 

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• Playing for the Planet’s Annual Impact Reports have supported the continued ratcheting of sustainability commitments from its members, as well as maintaining momentum on existing progress towards them. The latest edition of the report found that, as of 2023, 65% of members now have a net zero target in place for 2040 or 2050, with the plan moving forward to develop and strengthen the transparent, actionable pathways that can make sure these targets can be met.

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• The Alliance has partnered with studios and universities to publish research into attitudes towards environmental issues from players across the world. 2022’s Green Game Jam survey found that over 80% of video gamers want to engage with more green messages in video games, revealing a consumer appetite for environmental content that can encourage studios to do more through their games.

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While it’s helpful to take stock of the journey so far, the progress we’ve made as an industry should also act as an encouragement to go further, addressing the obstacles to action while continuing to explore new, unique opportunities on this agenda. Looking ahead, the Alliance remains focused on its mission to support sector-wide decarbonisation of the industry and activate players through games, but there also remains great opportunity for facilitating further leadership elsewhere, whether that’s working towards a plastic-free industry supply chain, or harnessing gaming franchise icons to champion environmental causes. 

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But, before pressing ahead into 2025 and beyond, it’s worth taking a moment to celebrate this anniversary together. Whether you’ve been deeply involved with the Alliance from the beginning, or have simply supported its work from afar, thank you, and here’s to the next five years of Playing for the Planet.

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Alex Avard (alex.avard@playing4theplanet.org) is a Project Manager for the Playing for the Planet.

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