Sustainable Game Development : Mapping the climate impact and the negative impact reduction actions in the Swedish gaming industry

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to map the current state of the Swedish gaming industry with regards to its climate impact and negative impact reduction actions. With the organization and the game development pipeline in focus this study set out to explore how game development activities have an impact on the climate, where the industry is focusing its actions to reduce this impact, and how the issue is perceived and handled by industry practitioners. Game development and the gaming industry in general is not commonly recognized for its climate impact because of it being digital in nature. As gaming is becoming more accessible, game devices more powerful, and the world more reliant on data centers and networks, the climate impact of digital products and services must be acknowledged. To understand the full scope of the impact of the gaming industry, it is imperative to identify that there is a problem and to what extent. To do so, there is a need to know where the industry’s climate footprints lie and how to calculate them. Then, strategic actions to reduce the climate impact from the Swedish gaming industry can be taken. This study presents a framework that outlines the product life cycle of a game and its relation to the organization's greenhouse gas emissions. The framework presented in the study can help researchers and practitioners identify where emissions occur and simplify the calculations of their climate footprint. Furthermore, reports and guides presented by some of the active climate initiatives were interpreted and analyzed in relation to the framework to map what emissions the reduction actions are targeting. To understand the Swedish aspect, and the organizational aspect, primary data was collected from sustainability reports published by Swedish gaming companies. These reports were used to identify how they are conducting their climate work, what their climate footprint is, and what actions they are taking to reduce their negative impact. Finally interviews with practitioners in the Swedish gaming industry were conducted to understand how climate change and climate actions affect their day-to-day activities. By triangulating the data collected from initiatives, sustainability reports and interviews, the intersection between initiatives and the industry was identified. The findings in this triangulation in combination with previous research and the presented framework can then be used to map the current state of the Swedish gaming industry with regards to its climate impact and its negative impact reduction action.