The Playing for the Planet initiative is a call for the gaming industry to join forces with the United Nations in order to combat Climate Change. It’s a very simple call to protect the environment through any means necessary whether it be through improving power usage or being environmentally save through company actions.
It would seem that Sony is one of the first leads that will be participating in this initiative. According to Jim Ryan will be joining the UN Climate Summit in order to combat Climate Changes. As of now he announced that the next PlayStation console will suspend gameplay with a lower power consumption.
I am also very pleased to announce the next generation PlayStation console will include the possibility to suspend gameplay with much lower power consumption than PS4 (which we estimate can be achieved at around 0.5 W). If just one million users enable this feature, it would save equivalent to the average electricity use of 1,000 US homes.
Along with Sony are other companies who will be joining the initiative including Microsoft, Google, Ruler, Ubisoft, Sports Interactive, Twitch, Niantic, Supercell, Playmob, Rovio, Sybo, Space Ape, Wild Works, Green Man Gaming, Creative Mobile, Reliance Games, iDreamSky, E-Line, Strange Loop, Pixelberry and the Internet of Elephants.
With all of these companies joining, it is estimated that they could reduce CO2 emissions by 30 million tons within the next ten years due to the catchment of almost a billion people.
Microsoft made a commitment to reduce emissions by 30% by 2030 and Google Staff will produce a guide for the sustainable development of video games.
For the most part the initiative has already started and the industry has made some promises to make the development of games more caring to the environment.
