When you’re fragging, you’re probably not thinking about how green your gaming console is. The infographic below is from a gambling site MobileWins.co.uk project called the Green Gaming study, and it may set you on the path toward a more eco-friendly gaming life.
It shows the estimated carbon footprint of the major game consoles still on the market, back to the Nintendo Wii U and the Microsoft Xbox 360. Take into account the number of console sold and the average playtime on each of around 8.5 hours per week, and you can determine each platform’s toxicity.
While the Nintendo Switch uses the lowest listed kilograms of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent) per hour, that doesn’t make it the console with the lowest rate of emissions, because it has sold 92.87 million units—so per hour, it’s still at number four on the list. The console with the least amount of emissions per hour is the low-selling Xbox One.
The report goes out of its way to say that “PlayStations are on average the most polluting platform.” They come in at number one (PS3) and three (PS5).
The report also broke out the top games that contribute to global climate change, thanks to their popularity, which drives up the player count; the time it takes to complete a game; kilowatt hours (based on consoles/devices the title is on); and kilograms of CO2e. In this case, League of Legends is in a league of its own, with Fortnight not even a close second. But a game doesn’t even have to be that popular—it can still leave a big carbon footprint because of the platforms it runs on (such as FIFA 22 running on the Xbox Series X).
You can read more on the sources and see other insights in the full report.
