Sustainability and the Video Gaming Industry

The video game industry is thriving. At the end of 2020, there were 2.69 billion gamers around the globe. While studies have shown that gaming can have many personal benefits, such as improved manual dexterity, increased social skills, and even promoting stress-relief, it’s worth investigating its environmental impacts – and if something needs to change.

Some researchers are suggesting that the video gaming industry is a sustainability nightmare.

From the games themselves to the way they’re manufactured, shipped, and sold, they all contribute to a large carbon footprint. Even digital games can contribute to climate change. Most games are played online and require a lot of data usage, contributing to “internet pollution”, which accounts for almost 3.7% of all global greenhouse gas emissions.