- The Green Game Jam is back for its fifth year
- PUBG Mobile, Hay Day, Merge Mansion and many others are taking part
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Playing for the Planet’s annual Green Game Jam initiative is back for its fifth year with participants including PUBG Mobile, Hay Day, Merge Mansion, Pokémon Go and many others.
Developers taking part aim to confront environmental issues like pollution and food production, with Playing for the Planet highlighting the current food system as the “primary driver of biodiversity collapse”.
Eating green
The Green Game Jam 2024 has tasked games and gamers with considering three key questions:
- How can we make small changes to the way we eat to drive demand for more sustainable food sources?
- How can we reassess the ways we consume to use less and waste less?
- How can we look after the environment around us as a first step towards restoration?
PUBG Mobile’s answer is Play for Green, a new map series created in partnership with a leading climatologist. A new in-game event, challenges and exclusive-themed rewards have been launched as part of the initiative, incentivising players to learn more about the planet as they play.
Scientific data has been used to reimagine Erangel after 100 years of climate change. Meanwhile, an unlockable botanical garden aims to educate players about the beauty and importance of endangered plants.
Over in Space Ape Games’ Beatstar, a Beat Chaser event is currently in progress offering cosmetic rewards themed around food. Outside of the game, players who post about vegan and vegetarian meals on social media are in with a chance to win additional rewards.
Merge Mansion has already hosted its Green Game Jam event, which ran from September 2nd to September 14th and focused on restoring nature and supporting biodiversity through everyday actions. In-game this translated to Green Acres Quest, where players merged and delivered items used to create a lush community garden and encourage the return of various fauna.
Fishing Clash’s event has also just wrapped up after a week spent addressing overfishing, habitat destruction and climate change, as well as the value of coming together to tackle environmental issues. Ten Square Games gave players at level 60 and above a combined target of collecting five million “symbolic drops of water” to reinforce this theme.
Lastly, Hay Day has been sharing vegetarian recipes based on in-game food, and farm visitors have had a boosted chance of requesting vegetarian goods in exchange for extra coins.
Other games participating in the event include:
- Empires & Puzzles
- Ensemble Stars!! Music
- June’s Journey
- My Talking Tom Friends
- Pokémon Go
- Subway Surfers
- Wordzee
Last year’s Green Game Jam ultimately saw participation from 40 different games and raised over $700,000.
