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Ubisoft to educate players on environmental matters through in-game activities

The gaming giants wants to speak to all its players about the climate crisis

Ubisoft to educate players on environmental matters through in-game activities

Ubisoft's director of corporate environmental sustainability Nicolas Hunsinger has spoken to Gamesindustry.biz about how the games industry can combat climate issues worldwide.

This comes in the wake of numerous in-game activities launched alongside last week’s COP27 Climate Change conference, including donating the proceeds of in-game emotes to environmental charities and raising awareness about environmental issues, such as the potential harm of wooden instrument production and ocean ecosystems.

The company’s activities are being actively supported by the UN’s Playing for the Planet initiative, which hopes to bring games publishers together to help fight climate change.

“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,” said Hunsinger. “And this is a mission that really motivates our teams.”

“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.”

Putting its money where its mouth is

The company has set science-based targets to reduce emissions and “ensure 67 percent of its suppliers will have science-based targets by 2026.”

“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,” said Hunsinger.

Despite its commitment to green initiatives, Unisoft has made recent investments in blockchain technology, which has been criticised for its negative environmental impact. In September, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot told Gamesindustry.biz that the company was being cautious in terms of its development within the space and how it utilises the technology.

Earlier this year, Tencent purchased a 49 percent stake in Ubisoft parent company Guillemot Bros for $300 million.


Staff Writer

Lewis Rees is a journalist, author, and escape room enthusiast based in South Wales. He got his degree in Film and Video from the University of Glamorgan. He's been a gamer all his life.