It is a new way of consuming video games. Cloud gaming proposes to eliminate the material barriers typical of the video game sector. So you don’t need a console, a simple internet connection is enough.
But is this practice an ecological alternative to video games? Ademe has tried to answer this question. Therefore, the ecological transition agency has assessed the full environmental impact of using a video game. The idea then is to compare a classic activity with a transmission activity.
Some use cases for cloud gaming
In its methodology, Ademe took into account the manufacture, transport, use and end of life of the essential elements to play a video game. At home alone, you have to have a console, a television and a game disc. When it comes to a dematerialized game, an online practice or cloud games, the agency adds the impacts related to data centers and the net.
According to his calculations, during an hour of play, cloud gaming seems to be the most harmful practice for the environment. This is explained by the use of equipment, such as data centers, with strong impacts on the indicators studied. Compared to the other scenarios, the impact is 42 to 211% greater.
However, cloud gaming still shows benefits under certain conditions of use. The impact of downloading a dematerialized game is offset by the hours played. Thus, taking this data into account, the game in the cloud is beneficial for a while for titles of a considerable size (75GB). But it is then the quality of the definition of the game that determines this delay.
In standard definition, the practice of video game streaming is the least harmful for a practice that does not exceed 9 hours. In low quality this duration reaches 13 hours, but it is reduced to 4 hours in high definition.
On the other hand, small games (6GB) almost never offer ecological benefits. With these titles, you have to play streaming in low definition for less than two hours to find an interest for the planet.
Ademe’s study shows, among other things, that playing video games is less harmful to the environment when players use computers, preferably laptops. These two scenarios, which use a single electronic device against several for consoles that require a television, have the least impact on the planet.
Source: BFM TV
