About our environmental compensation…

Disclaimer: This DevLog is intended to help anyone, who is in a similar situation we are in at the moment. Everyone has to make their own decisions. This merely is our own honest view and opinion, based on our experience. We would love to hear from you, what you think about it all. We wish you all the success and fun you deserve with the development and release of your game! eXplore Studio

A large focus of our game The Kaiyo Mission is exploring and appreciating the beauty of natural environments. As developers however, we have been extremely mindful of how we must protect and preserve our own environment on planet earth. We have a collective responsibility to safeguard our world. Therefore, we decided to introduce an environmental theme into the game by including pieces of plastic that were thrown into the ocean. This artistic decision highlights to players the effects we can have through the usage of plastic which can unfortunately never fully degrade. Instead, it can only become microplastics which animals ingest and have devastating effects. Not only does this cause issues for wildlife, it also causes repercussions for humans as we rely on the ocean for food and resources. We wanted to include this element in our game to encourage players to reduce their plastic and encourage businesses and governments to deal with the huge problem of pollution facing us. Additionally, the message of our game very much stands for harmony between humans and our world, alongside others. We hope this shines through to our players and inspires them to stand for protecting the environment. Consequently, we aim to not only entertain through our game but also to inform and motivate players to become greener.

Equally, we are aware that developing video games is not necessarily an environmentally friendly task. Despite not being as harmful as other industries, producing and using gaming hardware is energy-intensive. We recognise our role as video game developers in minimising the harmful effects of our industry as far as possible. As a result, we support four organisations to assert our commitment to our planet and aim to create a more sustainable future for all. At present, this includes Greenpeace, Sea Shepherds, Ecosia and the WWF. 

Through supporting these charities, we show our belief in driving policy changes to help our planet, protecting against marine degradation, and promoting biodiversity. Thus, we have chosen to compensate for our environmental footprint not just by mere CO2 off-setting, but rather by voluntarily supporting these charities financially. In this way, we aim to not only symbolically show our belief in combating climate change, but also help these proven charities to drive frontline and real change for our environment.

Overall, video games are powerful tools for raising awareness, and it is our belief that developers have a chance and a duty to drive positive action for the future of the planet.