In 2022, 42 games entered the Jam with a potential reach of 275,559,000 aggregated monthly active users. This was a record number of entries, with an all-time-high level of reach and resulted in 2,484,254 trees planted as a result of in-game activations. Playing for the Planet worked with Ecosia, a search engine that plants trees, and Ecologi, an environmental organization specializing in climate projects to ensure delivery of the reforestation goal.
The Green Game Jam acts as an entry point to inspire the gaming industry to learn more about creating and implementing green content in their games. This annual event challenges studios to tweak their existing games by adding green activations, with a goal is to inspire and rally players to change their worldview through the games they know and love. In 2022 studios were asked to come up with activations around the theme of food, forests, and future. The goals were to plant and protect one million trees, and shift one million players’ food choices.
Having joined the Green Game Jam, participants are encouraged to continue implementing green activations in their games. Through this type of content, studios can share important messages around climate change and the environment which enable players to take part in the studio’s sustainability journeys.
Alongside this year’s Green Game Jam, the Playing for the Planet Alliance ran the largest-ever survey sent to the games community about their attitudes towards the environment and its representation in games (389,594 people). The survey found that gamers care players generally care about the environment. 61% of respondents are motivated to pay for environmental content and there is an appetite for engagement around sustainability issues, with 81% of respondents agreeing they’d like to see more environmental content in their games if it’s relevant to the experience.
Gamers want more opportunity to learn and engage with ‘green’ content, and some are even willing to pay for it. 32% said that they would be more likely to play games that incorporate green themes. And Nearly 70% of respondents said they’d be open to changing their environmental habits before they played the game. This rose to 80% after playing the games involved in the Jam.
Two of the standout games within the eight award categories were, Supercell’s Hay Day with their green activation ‘Farmers for Farmers’, which educated players about regenerative agriculture via an in-game event, and Ubisoft Annecy’s Rider’s Republic. The “Phoenix” activation they designed aims to engage players emotionally around experiences with wildfires. The full list of winners was as follows:
First to implement:
CARBON ISLAND, TENCENT GAMES
UNEP Choice:
HAY DAY, SUPERCELL
Media’s Choice:
RIDERS REPUBLIC, UBISOFT ANNECY
Best in Forests:
IMAGINE EARTH, SERIOUS BROTHERS
Best in Food:
HAY DAY, SUPERCELL
Player’s Choice:
JUNE’S JOURNEY, WOOGA
Participant Choice:
TERRAGENESIS, TILTING POINT
Most Adoptable:
BRAWLHALLA,
UBISOFT BLUE MAMMOTH GAMES
In this hidden object game, players assume the role of detective June Parker and solve mysteries around the globe in a story full of intrigue and surprising twists. The game ran a time-limited event on World Environment Day, where players could purchase three types of tree decoration items within the game. Players were challenged to reach a collective milestone of 200,000 trees for their in-game islands within 24 hours. This milestone was achieved in 26 hours which led to Wooga planting 200,000 trees in the real world through a partnership with Ecosia.
