STRATEGIES — Sustainable Transition for Europe’s Game Industries — is a Horizon Europe funded project that supports Europe’s game industries in realising their potential as drivers of sustainable innovation, contributing to achieving the goals of the European Green Deal and delivering an economy that works for people.
The Project
Europe’s game developers are a vital cultural and creative industry (CCI) whose capacity to meet climate goals must be achieved as a matter of urgency. There are over 4,900 video game developer studios in Europe, employing 98,000 people, with a combined revenue of €23.3bn (ISFE and EGDF, 2022). Although smaller in size, Europe’s board game industry is also a significant CCI, with revenues projected to reach $4 billion by 2023. In both video and analogue game development, micro and small enterprises represent over 90% of the industries. This presents specific challenges in the climate transition for the game industries. STRATEGIES will provide the support needed to facilitate decarbonization and move towards sustainable production practices in which games and game technologies are fully recyclable. STRATEGIES also supports game developers as first movers among Europe’s CCIs, paving the way in green technological developments. Game development is an innovative design practice that can be harnessed to drive an inclusive societal climate transition. STATEGIES therefore not only addresses the challenges faced by the game industries, but seizes on the opportunities for game developers, and on the unprecedented reach of games among European citizens.
To address the challenges and opportunities facing Europe’s game developers, the STRATEGIES project offers a programme of research devised by small and micro game developers at the forefront of green transformations, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) supporting business development of the game industries in Finland, Germany, and the Netherlands, experts working at the intersection of policy and sustainability science, and academics working at the leading-edge of the study of games and climate change.
STRATEGIES develops policy recommendations and business model analysis to unlock the potential of the game industries to drive societal change. We are developing leading-edge carbon accounting tools for both analogue and video game production and carbon literacy training for game developers.
The reach of games is huge: 52% of the population between the ages of 6 and 64 plays video games (ISFE and EGDF, 2022). Recognising this, our research will develop and promote improved game design for sustainability, helping the game industries make games to support the behavior changes among citizens that will be key to the success of policy aimed at societal transformation.
The STRATEGIES project will begin on Feb 2024 and run until 2028.
Workplan
Alongside the ‘Management and Coordination’ (WP1) and ‘Dissemination, exploitation, communication’ (WP8) work packages, the STRATEGIES project consists of six research work packages:
‘Sustainable work - people and planet’ (WP2) investigates game development work cultures with a specific focus on the environmental sustainability of Europe’s game industries. It will generate data that will enhance understanding of the environmental impact of game development.
‘Sustainable production - materials and emissions’ (WP3) investigates the practices and impacts of Europe’s game development industries with a focus on the accurate assessment and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the development of video and board games and the use of materials in the development, production and distribution of games.
‘Policy innovation’ (WP4) develops proposals for the transformation of the game industries. Work focuses on the analysis of old and new business models for sector-wide transformation, and on developing policy recommendations that recognize the unique challenges and opportunities faced by SMEs.
‘Game design for sustainability’ (WP5) will produce toolkits for use by designers that will support the CCIs in making cultural games fit for climate change by improving their communication of sustainability, exploiting their ability to provide a medium through which to imagine inclusive sustainable futures, and harnessing their reach among European citizens to promote a socially acceptable green transition.
‘Hacking games to reimagine production’ (WP6) addresses the issue of consumption in game development’s sustainable transition. It does so by considering the whole ecosystem of design, production, and consumption of games within broader systems of production and consumption in our culture to develop toolkits for use in university and incubator game development programmes.
‘Game design for CCI training’ (WP7) will support Europe’s CCIs in understanding and delivering the goals of the European Green Deal. Taking a participatory design approach, WP7 will create a game that aims to communicate the goals of the European Green Deal and to achieve significant real-world impact. Further, WP7 will generate new knowledge relating to evaluations of user engagement with sustainability goals.
Objectives
Our strategic objectives are organised around the key areas (1) Evidence, (2) Policy, and (3) Practical Toolkits. We will:
Gather evidence and generate new data relating to working conditions and business infrastructure, and the knowledge, skills and attitudes in Europe’s game industries. In addition, we will create new data to inform sustainable production in game development and a leading-edge GHG emissions accounting tool.
Produce evidence-based business model recommendations that support the game industries in making a sustainable transition and driving a social transition. We will also deliver supporting policy recommendations that embed sustainability in funding generation, employment practices, organizational management, and the governance of the game industries.
Develop practical toolkits that enable the game industries to exploit opportunities in innovative and environmentally conscious design; exploit the affordances of games to enable the CCIs to overcome challenges in making a sustainable transition; and nurture the future of Europe’s game industries through interventions in training. The toolkits include: ecogame design toolkits for use in the analogue and video game industries; a sustainability seal of approval for marketing ecogames to citizens; carbon literacy toolkits for use in university game development training programmes; and a new game for use in other CCIs in preparation for their own sustainable transition.