PlanetPlay announced that data drawn from a new in-game poll called Play2Act showed evidence that gaming has the potential to incentivize greener habits among gamers.
The poll found 79% of respondents who had played games with green messages or environmental content reported making at least one positive behavioral change after playing these games.
Among these players, 47% report reducing their environmental impact through energy use or public transport, while 34% report making greener consumption choices.
Launched in September 2024, Play2Act is a poll embedded in popular games, designed to explore the role of games in tackling the climate and nature crises. The initiative was developed by PlanetPlay, a not-for-profit platform that contributes to environmental action through games, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Over 181,000 players from 189 countries, including 70 Least Developed Countries or Small Island Developing States, responded to a series of Play2Act survey questions placed in 24 popular games such as Subway Surfers, Beatstar, Pokemon GO! and Avakin Life, among others.
The poll leveraged the participating games’ reach of 80 million players per week. The questions aimed to collect players’ perspectives on their experiences with green games, and their impact on behavior and sentiment toward climate and environmental action.
20 games studios and platforms have participated in the Play2Act initiative, including Actrio, Bandai Namco, CM Games, E-Line Media, Futurevision, Funplus, Hutch, Jagex, Lockwood, Microsoft/Xbox Insider, Niantic, Outplay, Reliance, Rovio, Space Ape Games, SYBO, Ten Square Games, Trailmix, Tripledot and Unity.
“Games are uniquely positioned to engage a vast and diverse audience on environmental issues. Seeing so many players adopt greener habits after engaging with green content is a powerful testament to the impact games can have in shaping a more sustainable future,” said Rhea Loucas, CEO at PlanetPla …