We had the pleasure of recently speaking with Maria Wagner, Co-Founder and Managing Director at the Sustainable Games Alliance (SGA), about their innovative nonprofit work in advocating and providing tools for creating games sustainably.
Special thanks to the wonderful folks at the devcom developer conference for introducing us to Maria and for providing a special exclusive opportunity to chat with her about this important milestone in the game industry. After the interview, we’ve linked a video from devcom Developer Conference our team has exclusively revealed. In the video, Maria and three other panelists talk about their work in responsible gaming.
E4G: Hi Maria, it is a pleasure to be chatting with you today! We love talking about game industry nonprofits. Tell us about your organization, the Sustainable Games Alliance (SGA).
SGA: The Sustainable Games Alliance is a global non-profit cooperative founded by the world’s leading game entrepreneurs and environmental researchers with one goal: to make the games industry the leader in sustainability by setting ambitious and achievable standards for environmental and social responsibility.
Just to give you an idea: We’re backed by industry leaders like David Helgason (Founder, Unity Technologies) and Petri Järvilehto (Co-founder, Remedy Entertainment; Founder, Seriously Entertainment), and represent an Alliance of game companies and local game associations from 10 different countries currently. Our standard development and research is led by Dr. Ben Abraham, who has been pioneering the research in environmental impact of digital games since 2014 and author of Digital Games After Climate Change.”
In Practice: We create a framework to be able to globally collect data and measure the impact of the games industry, and based on that find data-driven and strategic solutions to reduce harmful impacts and optimize.
To give you some examples:
- Helping to improve energy efficiency without compromising player experiences
- Identify hardware/software combinations that are performing poorly/inefficiently
- Gain the ability to control emissions by eliminating wasted energy
- Increase the lifespan of batteries and extend play sessions
- Enable transparent benchmarking and reporting
E4G: What does “Responsible Gaming Imperative” mean to the Sustainable Games Alliance (SGA)?
SGA: It means to us that we are supporting the games industry to take responsibility in a strategic and smart way – Giving decision makers a data-driven understanding of the impacts their decisions have so they can make informed and just better decisions. Rather than relying on what simply looks or sounds good, we guide them to focus their time, money, and efforts on what truly matters, like energy use during play and impacts of data infrastructure.
E4G: What events is the SGA partnering with (or organizing solo) – and in what kind of ways?
SGA: We organize panels, talks, workshops and expert meetings at events. To name a view gamescom, devcom, PGC London & Helsinki, London Games Festival, W Love Games, Nordic Game Conference and Games Ground. SGA offers also public online meetups, you can view the upcoming events and recorded ones on our website.
E4G: What types of games (and communities) are the worst and least offenders in producing carbon emissions and using unsustainable hardware?
SGA: I like the doomer framing and will just go with it 😀 – the biggest ‘offenders’ are those who don’t actively seek optimization or ways to reduce emissions, hiding behind some offsets, – while there are so many low-hanging fruits—simple, effective solutions that can be implemented across platforms.
We need to look at games and their entire value chain and ask: is the energy being well spent here? Who is wasteful? Of course, this depends on the hardware and the specific game—you can’t compare mobile games directly with PC games, for instance. But you can compare specific mobile games with each other to find opportunities for optimization. And it is in the end also more insightful to look at the industry as a whole instead of an individual company.
Ultimately, it’s not about pointing fingers, but about finding strategic solutions as a global industry through data-sharing, knowledge-sharing and acting upon shared values.
E4G: For a typical gamer reading this discussion, what can they do to help reduce their gaming carbon footprint in a way that doesn’t require them to put ‘too much’ effort into it?
SGA carbon reduction tips:
- Check your energy provider
- Check if the game you’re playing has an “eco” or less energy consumption mode, because some already have and more and more games will have it + it will save you money too
- Make sure you only buy new hardware if you really need it – hardware production has a huge impact
- Stay critical and do not be misled by greenwashing
- Let your game developer know that you care and that you would like them to optimize the usage of their resources.
E4G: How do you feel about the current state of game industry nonprofits?
SGA: The games industry is giving and engaged. It’s full of creative, globally connected people who genuinely want to do the right thing. It’s the ideal environment for any non-profit aiming to make a positive global impact—especially if you love and value the art of game development.
E4G: We also of course love talking about events and getting a perspective from an attendee’s point of view. What value did attending devcom Developer Conference 2024 (DDC) bring to the SGA in your view?
SGA: It helped us to raise awareness and show what solutions are available. SGA is an Alliance of game developers for game developers. We offer and develop technical solutions for developers to use. Devcom is a perfect palace to share knowledge and get insights.
E4G: Your talk at DDC 2024 spoke about ways to slash carbon emissions in game development. How is this possible?
SGA: It starts with measuring and knowing your impact, then implementing more optimal solutions. In the talk we were showcasing technical energy efficiency improvements of game play which were good for the player and the environment.
XBOX has a great toolkit which gives the developer a better understanding of the energy use during game play and we were looking at the impressive example of Fortnite, which helped to save 73 GWh per year, you can read up on the technical improvements here.
The good thing is there are many of these great examples out there and you don’t have to reinvent the wheel by yourself.
SGA is a non-profit cooperative, the measurement framework, SGA Standard, the tools and best practices which we identify in collaboration with games companies are publicly available. Become a member, it is easy and very affordable or just use the info we provide.
Here is the recording of the latest meetup with Ubisoft and Microsoft on improving energy efficiency without compromising the player experience.
But seriously, join us. Let’s decarbonize the industry now. Here is our discord: https://discord.gg/XheD7WN2
E4G: Who are the leading game entrepreneurs who are funding and otherwise helping you to reach your goals?
SGA: David Helgason (Founder, Unity Technologies) and Petri Järvilehto (Co-founder, Remedy Entertainment; Founder, Seriously Entertainment), Jiri Kupiainen (23 years in the games industry with experience from a wide variety of roles ranging from indie game developer to CEO of a marketing platform and VP at Disney Interactive) and of course all of our members such as Mathias Nørvig (CEO of SYBO), Matt Caroll (COO of Sports Interactive), Mats Juhl (CEO of Starbreeze), Jari-Pekka Kaleva (Managing Director of EGDF), Jani Kahrama (CEO of Secret Exit Ltd) just to name a few. Please also check out the SGA Board and Advisory board – we have some amazing people supporting us form the games industry and the border civil society.
E4G: For industry members just hearing about the SGA today, what types of publishers and developers should reach out to you and are best able to utilize SGA’s resources?
SGA: We welcome all types of game studios ranging from indies to AAA, mobile game developers such as SYBO and Tactile, PC and Console game developers such as Starbreeze and Sports Interactive. We also work with local games associations such as neogames, Spiel Fabrique, SGDA, Arctic Game and service providers, which are part of the games industry ecosystem.
We have members from all over Europe and beyond. If you are in the games industry you should be part of SGA, be part of the solution to the global challenge we face together.
E4G: Do you see a future where all game development is sustainable, and how long might it be until we get there?
SGA: It is hard to predict but I am very optimistic. SGA started in August 2024 and we were able to lay very good groundwork for potentially really impactful emissions reductions to come. Stay tuned for the release of the first version of the SGA Standard, which will enable industry wide benchmarking, data-driven target-setting, decision making and optimization.
E4G: What can college students and others in the game industry do to help SGA’s mission if they are in a position of limited resources and finances?
SGA:
- Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sustainable-games-alliance/
- Join our discord channel: https://discord.gg/XheD7WN2
- Check out the public resources we offer on our website
- Sign up to SGA Pulse: Fresh News & Updates
- Ask your universities to get involved
devcom Game Developers Conference Panel Video
For more about the Sustainable Games Alliance (SGA) and what they are doing to help slash carbon emissions and improve game development energy efficiences, check out this devcom Developer Conference talk by Maria Wagner:
The Responsible Gaming Imperative: A technical Look into how to slash Carbon Emissions in Game Development, Playing and Streaming
