Ubisoft To Lecture Players On Climate Change By Introducing ‘Environmental Themes’ In Their Games
Ubisoft has announced their continued desire to reach all their players with “environmental themes in our games,” from AAA to mobile.
Ubisoft previously expressed their environmental efforts in June 2022, stating they would promote the United Nations’ environmentalist messages in their games. This included an event in Riders Republic, and would have included Skull and Bones before being delayed to March 9th.
GamesIndustry.biz recently interviewed Ubisoft Director of Corporate Environmental Sustainability Nicolas Hunsinger. Therein, Hunsinger discussed Ubisoft’s hopes that the gaming industry could become a “catalyst for change” to help deal with climate change. Related in-game events for Brawlhalla, Rocksmith+, Hungry Shark World and Trackmania all launched shortly after the COP27 Climate Change conference.
From simple emotes and messages to playable content, all of the above was submitted to the Green Game Jam 2022.
“Engaging our communities in the fight against climate change is a core pillar of our Play Green strategy, in addition to reducing our carbon footprint and helping our industry move forward,” Hunsinger promotes. “And this is a mission that really motivates our teams.”
He added, “We are very proud to have had 14 teams participate in the 2022 Green Game Jam. They took inspiration from this year’s theme, ‘Food, Forests and our Future’ to create activations that would resonate with the unique DNA of each game and its players.”
“As a leader in our industry, we have the power and the responsibility to act on climate change — but we know that only through collective action can we truly have an impact,” Hunsinger elaborated. “Through our games, we reach millions of people around the world every day, which gives us the perfect opportunity to raise awareness about climate issues and mobilize our players to act.”
Rather than putting the onus purely on players, Hunsinger declares, “Our goal is to help our industry become a catalyst for change by simultaneously decarbonizing our operations and inspiring players to join us and become climate advocates in their own communities.”
GamesIndustry.biz reports Ubisoft has set its own “Science Based Targets” to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (scope 1 and 2) by 42% in the next eight years, and that at least 67% of the company’s supplies have their own targets in the next four. The in-game content shows no signs of slowing down either.
“I hope that our dev teams will continue to engage with the Green Game Jam, as well as the internal resources and conferences we provide, to use environmental topics as a source of creativity in our games,” Hunsinger expressed. ” My hope is that we will someday reach all of our players with environmental themes in our games, whether they play our AAA titles every week or pick up a mobile game from time to time.”
Hunsiger stated that Ubisoft owed “many of our achievements so far in part to the guidance and expertise of the Alliance [The UN’s Playing for the Planet initiative]. I cannot overstate how invaluable it is to share best practices with other video game companies: it helps to exchange with others who are facing similar challenges and learn what solutions worked for them.”
“It’s also an unprecedented opportunity to collaborate with first parties like Microsoft and Sony to explore how we can reduce the environmental impact of gaming throughout the entire lifecycle of a game,” Hunsinger hoped.
Hunsiger also proposed, “I think Playing for the Planet will be able to do even more as more and more companies join our ranks. The more companies that participate, the bigger our impact will be, both in terms of decarbonization and reaching players.” Nonetheless, GamesIndustry.biz wryly note that Ubisoft had invested into blockchain technologies and NFTs which utilize a lot of energy.
CEO Yves Guillemot answered this very question in Ubisoft’s interview with the outlet back in September, stating, “Exploring [the technology] doesn’t mean launching,” adding “This industry is evolving quickly, and it’s very cautious about the impact it will have.” An Ubisoft spokesperon added the technology was not except from their environmental mission.
While far from proven, Ubisoft may also be aiming to reach ESG targets (Environmental, Social, and corporate Governance) for investment. These can- in part- include efforts to make a company or organization carbon-neutral, or promoting environmentalist messages.
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