Video games, for many people, are a way of life. We say that not just in the business sense, as the industry has tens of thousands of people, if not more, working on games all over the world, but via the gamers who sometimes play titles every single day without fail or remorse. To be clear, that’s not a bad thing on either side. Video games are big business and have been a staple of the entertainment industry for years. For gamers, regardless of whether they like Microsoft, Sony, or Nintendo titles better, video games can be a great “escape” from daily life or just make them happy.
Here’s the catch, though. Video games may be great, but they can cause environmental issues. No, not in the “massive way” that things like cars or certain factories do, but they do have an impact due to what it takes to power them and make them. As such, Microsoft decided to make a post on Earth Day to highlight the various ways that they’ve been trying to do better by protecting the environment through their Xbox lineup. Oh, and they promoted games about exploring and protecting the environment because, of course, they did.
On the main Xbox website, the company spotlighted the various things that their consoles and game developers can do to reduce emissions when games are made or played, thus helping the world. For example,:
“Our Shutdown (Energy Saving) power mode, Active Hours and Carbon Aware console updates have made the use of our consoles more energy and emissions efficient.”
Furthermore:
“The Xbox Sustainability Toolkit has empowered game developers to optimize their game code for energy efficiency on Xbox consoles and beyond.”
Their efforts go beyond that, though. If you look at their recent wireless “remix” controller, you’ll notice that it has much less plastic than previous versions. That was an intentional attempt to “reduce waste” and not use as much plastics in their controllers. Sometimes, the little things can help the most. They’re even trying to use timber more in their game dev buildings, including one right now in the UK, so that they won’t be using as many materials that aren’t recyclable.
As for the games that they promoted, as they are a business, they spotlighted Minecraft, Stardew Valley, Coral Island, and Lightyear Frontier. All these titles involve nature or construction in one form or another and thus fit the “Earth Day” theme. A bit tacky? Sure. But it is Microsoft. What else would they do?
