Is the new opus of the mythical saga of video games, which comes out on Friday, a “green game”? Watch the chronicle “A planet, solutions”, produced by NOWU in partnership with franceinfo.
The mythical adventure video game, created by Nintendo in 1986, returns today with its new opus Tears of the Kingdom (Tears of the Kingdom), available on the Switch console.
The principle has remained unchanged for 40 years: the brave knight Link must save Princess Zelda and the kingdom of Hyrule from the evil scourge Ganon. A real commercial success with 125 million copies sold worldwide, the saga is also known for its innovative ecological subtext.
The predecessor of Tears of the Kingdom, Zelda Breath of the Wild, released in 2017, stood out for its magnificent landscapes and its rich virtual biodiversity (no less than 80 different wild animal species!). As for his big bad Ganon, he could almost be compared to climate change or pollution: the “corruption” he sows in the landscape is akin to environmental degradation. The game propels us into a wild nature by encouraging us to admire it, understand it, and explore it by taking our time.
A cultural industry with 3 billion players
Zelda is far from being the only eco-friendly game acclaimed by critics: remember that the Pégase 2023 for the best game was awarded in 2023 to straya French game in which the player embodies a cat (!) in a world that is literally crumbling under waste.
The “green games” movement gained momentum at the turn of the 2010s with the launch in 2019 of the initiative playing for the planet : this alliance of the United Nations Environment Program and giants in the sector, such as Ubisoft and Sony, intends to green both the manufacture of video games and their content.
What interest to adapt pop-culture to environmental issues ? Quite simply because integrating ecological messages into video games, even sometimes in a very subtle way, has a direct impact on the 3 billion gamers that make up the world’s population. In France, no less than a third of adults and half of children play it daily.
The video game is also an ideal medium for raising awareness: its immersive stories, its ability to federate communities, allows messages to be passed on in a natural and playful way.
What impact do video games have on the planet?
This is one of the other objectives of the alliance playing for the planet : reduce the environmental impact of this industry, which consumes more and more resources and energy.
There are very few studies that give precise figures on the environmental impact of video games. According to researcher Frédéric Bordage, the console game channel emits the equivalent of 37 million tonnes of CO2 each year, compared with aviation, which emits 600 million tonnes per year.
This hobby of rich countries therefore has a relatively limited impact for the moment, but which will increase in parallel with its development: the market was worth 300 billion dollars in 2021.
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