Sustainability in Games: How Green the Bavarian Industry Is

He simply did the math. For Benjamin Lochmann, CEO of the Nuremberg-based game studio Pixel Maniacs, the transition to a more sustainable office began very simply. “The first step was to look at where we consume resources in game development,” says Lochmann. “We looked at our electricity and water consumption. We scrutinized our waste separation and also the means of transport we use to travel.” The Pixel Maniacs team selfie from the ICE on the way to the annual gamescom, the world's largest games trade fair, is practically cult. “During this review, we came across a whole series of things that made no sense to us.” And could be optimized relatively easily.

The old communal fridge - a power guzzler - was sold in the classified ads. The LED panels in the office, which “account for thirty percent of our total electricity consumption”, are now switched off more often. And the company has already looked into solar panels on the roof. “Many of these supposedly small things already help and save money,” concludes Lochmann.

Games industry: sustainability is a hot topic

He is not alone in this realization. Sustainability is an issue in the Bavarian cultural sector. The State Museum of Egyptian Art in Munich recently switched off its energy-guzzling ventilation systems overnight. The Augsburg open-air festival Modular uses special software to calculate its own CO2 emissions. And Penzing Studios has set itself the goal of CO2-neutral film production. This green wave has long since reached the games industry. With enormous potential for influence. After all, around three billion people worldwide play video games. In Germany, too, the proportion of gamers is high: 54 percent play regularly. The industry association game emphasizes the importance of the topic: “Environmental and climate protection is particularly important to us as a games industry,” explains Managing Director Felix Falk. “Games companies are committed to the environment in many different ways. And thanks to their interactivity, games are also particularly well suited to raising awareness of climate protection.”

Green Gaming: Bavarian games go green

Within Germany, Bavaria is at the forefront when it comes to gaming. A total of 342 companies, organizations and institutions make the state one of the top 3 locations for gaming in Germany. And one that is becoming increasingly green. “Green issues are taking up more space within the video games industry than before. We are also seeing this trend in Bavaria,” says Rupert Ochsner from the Munich-based game studio Bonus Level Entertainment. They are currently looking for a publisher for their game “HeartWarming”. The game is about a world “that is struggling with rising temperatures and the resulting consequences for flora and fauna.” They have chosen the metaphorical route - via a fable. A young, cheeky lynx and an old, grumpy penguin have to overcome their generational conflict and use their different skills to save the world. Ochsner also thinks the indie studio's working structure is fabulous: “We are proud to work completely remotely. This allows us to take direct responsibility because it saves a lot of resources.”

Environmental topics in games: experiencing climate catastrophes digitally

Alexander Schmidt from Nuremberg-based studio Well Done Games is also observing the trend towards green content: “There is definitely a shift towards more games that deal with this topic.” Titles such as “Terra Nil”, a renaturization game that became a surprise hit, are making international headlines. Like a number of games companies, Well Done Games has even made social impact the core of its business. They have a whole series of games with green content in their portfolio. “When we founded the company, we wanted it to do something with added social value,” says Schmidt. “We take difficult topics from the real world and try to make them an interactive experience. And because climate change is very important, we deal with it a lot in our games.” For example in “Beyond The Flood”. The prototype of the game, which was funded by FFF Bayern, is about “trying to help people during a flood disaster as a player. We were influenced by the flood disaster in the Ahr valley.” Or in “Grass”. A cozy game in which you play a lawnmower that meditatively and mindfully makes its rounds through lonely natural landscapes. Or in the current project “IndusTree”. A simulation in which you use micromanagement to help trees grow.

Environmental and climate protection: games can show solutions

Michel Wacker and his team at Gentle Troll in Würzburg have developed a climate adaptation game. It is actually called “Klim:S²¹ – The Climate Adaptation Game” and is designed to bring climate change in the various natural areas of Germany to life digitally. “We developed 'Klim:S²¹' together with the Heidelberg University of Applied Sciences and want to use it to show how we can – or even have to – adapt our everyday lives to climate change in different natural areas in Germany,” says Wacker. In the game, you have to make decisions about certain protective measures and then learn how they work. During development, he realized the relevance of some aspects of the climate debate that are often neglected: “We usually only talk about climate protection as a delay to climate change. Not about the fact that it's already here and how we can adapt to deal with it better.” Climate adaptation offers many approaches that offer hope. Instead of just stoking fears. Gentle Troll wanted to make this aspect playable in “Klim:S²¹”.

However, the Würzburg-based company not only makes sustainable games, but also pays attention to an appropriate working environment, just like the other studios surveyed. “Since day one, we have been using green electricity via a subsidized tariff, part of which is invested in the construction of solar fields in Germany,” says Wacker. At the same time, care is taken to ensure that as many computers as possible are switched off at night and that hardware purchases are made as far-sightedly as possible or, ideally, from return purchases.

Major players also focus on green issues

Large Bavarian gaming companies are also focusing on green change. Klaus Schmitt, CEO of upjers, says: “Sustainable environmental protection has been a key issue for us for years. For example, we support local projects such as flowering areas or the gamescom forest, a climate-stable mixed forest near Bayreuth, through donations.” Other measures such as a low-paper administration or participation in city cycling campaigns not only raise awareness of green issues among the company's own employees, but also among the general public. In addition: Upjers has been using CO2-neutral electricity for all data centers for over 10 years and uses efficient and energy-saving cooling systems.

Remote Control Productions is similarly active. The Munich-based entertainment software company consists of a network of 15 games companies. According to spokeswoman Valerie Künst, the mother ship of the international developer family takes its responsibility as a driving force and partner of the associated game studios particularly seriously: “We regularly offer workshops on the topic of the green office for our studios,” she explains. “We create networking and exchange among each other in order to tackle sustainability issues together.” Things are also happening internally: “We have our own project group called the Green Office Strike Force. It meets regularly and looks at what we can change in the office itself to make it more sustainable,” says Künst. “For example, we've switched to more sustainable light bulbs, looked at waste separation and water consumption and also drafted guidelines.” Green issues are also becoming increasingly present in the developer family's portfolio. In the game “Garden Life” by stillalive studios, you can nurture and care for a piece of abandoned land and learn all kinds of things about flora and fauna in the process. Or in “Arbo - Idle Garden” from it Matters Games. Players accompany a tree as it grows - from a tiny seed to a mighty oak tree.

A good start for change

Games can raise awareness of green issues. That is the consensus among all respondents. However, they also agreed that there is still room for improvement. Above all, it would be important to give space to the creative through broad funding opportunities. “If games funding is generally strengthened, I think this will automatically lead to more games with green themes being developed,” says Benjamin Lochmann from Pixel Maniacs. Precisely because there is already great interest in the topic within the industry. This also applies to players. A survey by the UN initiative “Playing for the Planet” proves that the majority of gamers are convinced that video games can help to raise awareness of environmental issues. Two thirds of those surveyed stated that they would also be willing to get actively involved, for example by making donations, if games managed to integrate environmental issues in a way that benefited the in-game experience or supported a good cause. So climate change and environmental issues in general are not a turn-off for the gaming community. This is a good start for change. In Bavaria, in Germany and worldwide