Environmental Impacts of Video Games
2012 August 16
Big Fish Games (based in Seattle) has recently created a graphic to represent the environmental impacts of video games. Of course, as a download based game company, Big Fish does have a stake in making console based games like Nintendo look bad. That said it’s a powerful representation of an issue the gaming industry (like the film and television industries) like to avoid – the ecological footprint of gaming.
UPDATE: Adam Melson, who works on online marketing for Big Fish, kindly contacted me to express appreciate for the repost and to remind folks that you can link to the original post at http://www.bigfishgames.com/blog/environmental-impact-of-video-games/. Thanks Adam!
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Interesting graphic. However it seems to imply that downloading has no environmental impact, and that is simply not true. It is likely that downloading has less impact, but cloud storage is pushing high energy consumption on server farms. If the current trend continues, the CO2 emissions of the Internet and cloud will double in ten years. Already it’s equal to the aviation industry.
Well spotted Antonio. As I mentioned in my post, Big Fish definitely has a stake in making console-based games look bad. Here in Oregon, we’re keeping a close eye on companies like Google, which has recently opened a massive data storage center in The Dalles. Locals tell me that the company has been offered all kinds of incentives – including priority on electricity from the nearby Dalles Dam (built in the 1950s over the site of Celilo Falls, a traditional fishing and trading spot for indigenous peoples) — due to their promise to bring 200 jobs to the area. Essentially, the people of The Dalles are subsidizing Google’s power bill while their own rates have gone up. And while the Columbia Gorge is a hotbed of wind-power activity you are spot on to bring up the growing carbon footprint of the cloud. Thanks for your comment and be sure to check out Alenda Chang’s recent post on the work she’s doing on video games!