Policy makers, researchers and activists don’t really leave their own realities to visit the crazy multiverse of gaming. At the same time, game developers often think sustainability is about trowing plastic bottles in the recycling or about putting windmills in a grid. We need to bridge this divide if games are going to mean something for our collective futures. Change makers and game developers need to actually step into each other’s worlds.

STRATEGIES researcher, Joost Vervoort, has recently published results arising from a previous Horizon project, CreaTures. The paper explains 9 dimensions for evaluating the link between creative practices and sustainability transformations. CreaTures is one of the research projects exploring creative practice out of which our STRATEGIES research programme has grown.

The STRATEGIES project formally begins on Wednesday 17th April with our two-day kick-off event at Utrecht University. The event includes a public presentation of the project, the book launch of Ecogames: Playful Perspectives on the Climate Crisis, the academic volume that prompted the creation of our consortium, and a planning meeting for all project partners.

We are happy to announce the publication of our book Ecogames: Playful Perspectives on the Climate Crisis (Amsterdam University Press 2024), edited by Laura op de Beke, Joost Raessens, Stefan Werning, and Gerald Farca. The book will be available open access from 19-01-2024 at the website of AUP.

STRATEGIES is the short name for the Horizon Europe funded project Sustainable Transition for Europe’s Game Industries. The project will support Europe’s game development industries in making vital changes to their business and production practices in support of reaching the emissions targets of the European Green Deal. We will also work with Europe’s game developers to make the most of the opportunities of this transition, promoting games as ways of communicating with the public, engaging diverse audiences with the issue of the climate crisis, and supporting wider societal changes to help Europe’s citizens – and the wider world – in adapting to and mitigating climate change.