The Environmental Impacts of Gaming
Written by MasterMeowzer
Published on April 4th, 2024
The video gaming industry has expanded steadily over the past few years, serving ever more players with their products and increasing sales and revenue. Worldwide, the number of gamers has increased to 3.09 billion people. Each of them, naturally, has a gaming console or a PC, most likely a phone, and energy needs and uses independent from their gaming lives. Some of those gamers have multiple consoles and platforms to play a greater variety of games and gain new experiences in storytelling, mechanics, and social events in their time off or as a professional gamer/streamer. The video gaming industry is among the largest entertainment industries worldwide. It also has a massive impact on the environment through the production and distribution of gaming consoles and peripheries, the upkeep of cloud gaming and online games, the energy consumption from the platforms themselves, and the electronic waste once the electronics reach their end of use.
In 2022, the gaming industry is estimated to have generated 81 million tons of carbon alone. Most of these emissions are generated through the production, transportation, and use of gaming hardware and the running and upkeeping of network and data centers. Many companies within the gaming industry have joined the nonprofit initiative Playing for the Planet to collaborate and create ideas for lowering their emissions and lessening their environmental impact. Some of the implemented ideas include recycling initiatives to reuse the plastics and metals used in the production of gaming platforms and discs, planting trees to assist in the carbon offsetting of the data centers and production facilities, and switching data centers over to wind and solar power to directly reduce carbon emissions. There are efforts, as well, to shift packaging processes to lessen waste and harmful byproducts, and create consoles with more efficient systems that will require less power draw without compromising any of the hardware and software quality.
So what can we, as gamers, do? Although it can seem like the problem of emissions in gaming is too big for individual gamers to affect, being mindful of the way we use and upkeep our platforms and games can help lessen the environmental load of our beloved hobby, profession, and pastime. There are a few actions you can use for your platforms and games that could have a great impact:
Consider using cloud gaming rather than physical discs. By taking the brunt of your games’ processing and shifting it onto the more centralized company servers that are actively shifting to renewable energy sources, you can reduce consumed energy from your games, and the remaining energy draw will go through a healthier source. This also reduces the production, transportation, and end-of-use costs of the games, due to the lack of physically-produced disc.
Use power-saving modes on your platforms or shut them off while they are not in use. Not only does this lessen the power consumption and carbon cost of your devices, it also increases the lifespan of the platform’s processors!
When you upgrade your devices or research a new device to purchase, consider energy efficiency alongside the software and hardware properties you would usually look for. These will consume less energy over time, reducing the load of the device on the environment and your home.
Take care of the end-of-use disposal of your platforms and hardware. When one of your lovely platforms passes onto its next great adventure, look for the recycling programs companies offer to reclaim and recycle plastics and metals into new productions. Depending on the platform and the company, they may offer store credit or cash off of a newer device!
The environmental impact of the gaming industry is high, but there are many efforts to lower that impact and to increase the amount of efficiency and recycling available and viable. It is important to remember that these sustainability measures and suggestions are focused around lowering energy consumption, which can also benefit individuals by lowering electrical costs. With ever more gamers joining in for the wonderful adventure of gaming, let’s make sure that we can make this adventure wonderful for the environment as well, even if we can only do small actions to contribute to a better whole.
Written by @MasterMeowzer for the April 2024 issue of the Lady Arcaders Newsletter