Games Industry Research: Carbon Emissions of Top Video Games
What do video games and jumbo jets have in common? Of course it’s carbon emissions! While we must consider scale, video games also have an impact on their carbon footprint, similar to diesel tanks, airplanes, and oil factories. Whether you're tapping a controller in Call of Duty or racing through virtual realms in The Sims, our digital actions can have real-life consequences.
Although more and more video games are moving away from traditional disk-based consoles, gaming still consumes a lot of energy. We've moved away from the bulky plastic cartridges that once brought us joy, but digital isn't necessarily better.
We've compiled factors that contribute to video games' carbon emissions, such as: B. Server usage, personnel, updates, and console energy consumption to provide an accurate estimate of each video game's carbon footprint. By analyzing the 20 best video games of the 21st century, we were able to identify environmental heroes and CO2-consuming perpetrators.
In addition to quantifying each game's carbon footprint, we analyzed leading video game companies and conducted comprehensive comparisons to understand the true impact of video games on the environment.
Key Points:
- Grand Theft Auto is estimated to be the biggest CO2 emitter in the gaming industry
- Famous "Fortnite" ranks second in CO2 emissions
- Electronic Arts, home of FIFA and The Sims, is the #1 most environmentally conscious game with the lowest carbon footprint The average player consumes 158 pounds of CO2e per year
Determine accurate CO2 emissions
It's worth noting that despite public pressure on game companies to disclose their emissions, calculating the carbon impact of each game and company is no easy task. For companies that provide public data on their environmental efforts, we were able to easily determine carbon emissions based on the company's number of games and the share of each game.
For those companies that do not publicly disclose their carbon emissions, we can calculate carbon emissions by calculating their market share compared to the gaming industry’s total carbon emissions of 24 million tons of CO2e per year.
The video game that emits the most CO2
It only makes sense that virtual gas-guzzling games do the most damage to the real world. Grand Theft Auto, in all its lobster theft and police chase glory, is estimated to have the highest carbon footprint in the industry.
The GTA franchise operated by Rockstar Games generates 4.76 CO2e per user per year. For those of us unfamiliar with carbon emissions, that’s 81% more than the average 2.01 CO2e. In layman's terms, a year of playing GTA is equivalent to driving a gasoline-powered car 12,174 miles. A virtual GTA road trip might just as well be worth a real road trip!
Rockstar isn't alone in its ecological crisis. Epic Games ranks first for having the highest carbon footprint at the corporate level. Epic Games emits an estimated 24 million tons of carbon dioxide every year. That's quite a lot of international flights. While that may seem like a lot (and, to be clear, it is), that number can largely be attributed to the company attracting a large number of players. Fortnite is the largest game in their portfolio, with a whopping 650 million registered users. 650 million players require a lot of server power, so the answer to all zeros lies behind their net CO2 emissions.
The most environmentally friendly electronic game
However, all is not lost. Planting a tree in Tom Clancy's Ghost Count: Breakpoint is like planting a tree in real life! Green players don't have to be a myth or a marketing scheme, as some companies are making it a reality.
Electronic Arts, home of The Sims and FIFA, reports the lowest CO2 emissions of any publicly available industry data, at 8,100 CO2e. So, Sims go all out! You'll feel better knowing that this product is the least damaging of all major gaming branches, weighing only 0.29 pounds. CO2 equivalent per average user per year.
Video games are likely to become carbon neutral
Unfortunately, another environmental unknown is how much these companies are doing to reduce their carbon footprint. As gamers, we are largely ignorant of what goes on behind the scenes and can only see the magic appear on our screens. However, some companies have made their contributions public and plan to change that. Among companies that have outlined carbon neutrality goals, the planning timeline is as follows:
2027: Electronic Arts 2030: Epic Games 2050: Riot Games, Nintendo and Activision Blizzard
Other companies, such as Roblox, have not publicly mentioned any environmental measures, but remain a mystery when it comes to carbon neutrality.
How many trees must be planted to offset gaming emissions?
By now you may be feeling doom and gloom, but unfortunately, there is light at the end of the tunnel! You don't have to play for free because the exact amount of "fixed carbon" can be calculated. We know that players spend an average of £158. A typical participant would have to plant 2.77 trees per year to offset emissions. Overall, not bad!
Carbon Dioxide Conclusion
You don’t have to bury Xbox to save the planet, or boycott Fortnite and glorify FIFA. The game is supposed to be fun, but it's a gentle reminder that even seemingly harmless things can have an impact on the environment. So press play! But plant a tree or two—your virtual self will thank you.
method
Using quantitative observations and secondary data, we assessed the metrics commonly used to determine carbon emissions based on data provided by companies in their public environmental reports. These data are then cross-referenced with user numbers and environmental industry data, which allows us to examine the extent of compensation required to reduce these emissions.
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