This Earth Day, explore new worlds and solve environmental challenges with games

At Microsoft, we’ve made bold commitments to improve the environmental impact of our business. As a result, Xbox has made strategic, innovative and meaningful investments that are gaining traction across the gaming industry:

• Our Shutdown Mode (Power Saving), Active Hours, and Carbon Aware console updates have made using our consoles more energy and emissions efficient.
• The Xbox Sustainability Toolkit has empowered game developers to optimize their game code for power efficiency on Xbox consoles and beyond.

In addition to these software innovations, we are also making advancements in hardware and infrastructure:

• The Xbox Wireless Controller – Remix Special Edition was an exercise in exploring ways to use less virgin plastic and reduce waste.
• We help reduce the impact in the office Rarely unveils a new LEED Gold certified building on its UK campus – Xbox’s first solid wood building in Europe for Xbox Game Studios.

As important as it is that we make these significant changes, one of the big benefits gaming can have for the environment is often overlooked! The medium of gaming can serve as a tool that enables exploration of the world for those who may not have easy access to the natural environment. It also encourages thinking outside the box, empathy and teamwork – all necessary ingredients for solving environmental problems. Gaming can open up the world, push the boundaries of what is possible and inspire future generations to protect the environment.

Read on to learn more about gaming as a medium for environmental change and how Xbox is celebrating Earth Day.

Play

Discover sustainability with Minecraft

Bring climate and sustainability science to life with incredible animals. Minecraft Education Planet Earth III

Created in collaboration with BBC Earth, the program offers students a free curriculum that includes lesson plans and discussion guides. Discover how the lives of these animals are intertwined by playing as both predator and prey, parent and offspring, friend and ally, and discover the precarious balance of survival.

Research climate change while learning the principles of AI. With Minecraft Education AI for Earth The students learn the principles of AI and at the same time take their first steps in this exciting area of ​​computer science. Learners will harness the power of AI in a range of exciting real-world scenarios, including protecting wildlife and ecosystems, helping people in remote areas, and researching climate change.

Discover environmentally themed games on Game Pass

Simulation games offer a unique way to explore and expand environments while managing and regenerating natural resources. Check out these games that highlight these themes in their mechanics and story:

• Lightyear Frontier (Game Preview) (Available with Xbox Game Pass on Xbox Series X|S, PC and Cloud) – Build a sustainable eco-farm and carefully manage your relationship with the ecosystem in this peaceful open-world farming adventure on a planet at the very edge of the galaxy. This game promotes sustainability efforts, including planting trees to replace the trees you harvest and eliminating pollution. Invite up to three friends to create a thriving home.
• Coral Island (available with Xbox Game Pass on Xbox Series X|S, PC and Cloud) – Help protect the native flora and fauna, dive into the seas to clean up the coral reef, and pick up trash across the island in this family-friendly, Southeast Asia-inspired farming simulator. The development team from Indonesia incorporated themes of conservation into the way players must maintain the island’s ecosystem, while encouraging them to develop a bond with nature.
• Stardew Valley (available with Xbox Game Pass on console, PC and cloud) – You’ve inherited your grandfather’s overgrown farm property, and with a little dedication you might be able to restore Stardew Valley to its former glory! With an anti-consumer conspiracy against the JoJa Corporation and plenty of land to explore, Stardew Valley showcases a love of nature and focuses on the simple pleasures in life.

Give

The Seattle Aquarium is using Xbox controllers to explore the depths of local waterways

Xbox is pleased to highlight and support the Seattle Aquarium’s incredible research with Remotely Operated Underwater Vehicles (ROV), a program aimed at supporting habitat restoration efforts across the region and reversing the decline of local kelp forests. The aquarium’s ROV Nereusnamed after the scientific name for bull kelp (Nereocystis as a list) is a small, adaptable and easily maneuverable device that can dive up to 100 meters and transmit live video and data to the surface. Our favorite part? The researchers use Xbox controllers to control the ROV Nereus

and navigate the dense and dynamic kelp forests in Elliott Bay, the waterway surrounding the aquarium.

In addition to providing food and shelter for hundreds of marine animals, bull kelp also sequesters carbon from the water and locally mitigates the effects of ocean acidification. While some regions of the Salish Sea have thriving kelp forests, other regions have seen declines of up to 95%, and researchers aren’t always sure why. The Aquarium’s ROV work helps researchers study declining kelp ecosystems and the factors affecting their health so that the broader Washington kelp conservation, restoration and management community can work toward recovery.

To expand the scope and scope of this work, the Aquarium is partnering with the Tulalip Tribes Natural Resources Shellfish Program to help them get their own ROV program up and running. The Aquarium is also working with state agencies and Reef Check to compare ROV and scuba diving as data collection methods and to evaluate the effectiveness of different environmental monitoring strategies. By using Xbox controllers to operate the ROV, the aquarium not only makes research more fun and accessible for future generations of marine conservationists, but also demonstrates the power of the technology for conservation and education. Through educational and outreach events with various local organizations, the Aquarium hopes this program will inspire more people to appreciate and protect kelp forests and the marine life they support.

To learn more about the Seattle Aquarium and the work there, visit us Seattleaquarium.org and look at ours Xbox Live Stream at the Seattle Aquarium from Earth Day 2023.

Diablo IV: Duriel’s Offer to Tiggywinkles

Duriel, the maggot king, has reported Diablo IV Fans help sacrifice his horde. For every 25 likes on Diablos’ Earth Day post Since each bucket contains approximately 45,000 maggots, you could help Blizzard fund Tiggywinkle’s bird rehabilitation program for more than two years by simply liking her post.

Tiggywinkles is a specialist animal rescue hospital in the UK. They are dedicated to rescuing and rehabilitating all types of local wildlife. Every animal brought to the hospital is given a chance and given the best possible care. All animals and birds that cannot be released into the wild are kept in the hospital in conditions that are as natural as possible. Go to the Diablo X account to help turn likes into buckets of maggots for the birds.

Engage

Barn X on the Rare Campus

Xbox has built its first solid wood building in Europe at Rare, the Xbox game studio and creator of Sea of ​​Thieves. The new solar-powered studio is already inspiring game developers to create unique shared experiences for players.

Located in Twycross, Leicestershire, Rare’s new building – “Barn

Craig Duncan, Rare’s studio director, said: “Our new barn is a testament to cutting-edge sustainability and environmental design, creating an exemplary eco-friendly workplace.” The opportunity to expand our campus by creating a state-of-the-art environment for our teams while also supporting Microsoft helping to achieve its sustainability goals was really worth it. The new space design encourages collaboration, creativity and well-being, which are essential for a team to create entertaining experiences for players everywhere.”

Barn It is an example of how Microsoft is implementing sustainable solutions for the future as it pursues its goal of being carbon negative by 2030.

Read more about the new building and how it promotes creativity and increases well-being Here.

Playing for the Planet – Annual Impact Report

As a founding member of the Playing 4 The Planet Alliance, we are excited to share 2023 Annual impact report. The report contains:

• A measure of progress toward Playing 4 the Planet’s strategic goals.
• Updates on focus areas such as decarbonization, The Green Game Jam and more.
• A review of members’ commitment to sustainability.

Xbox won the “Green Studio of the Year” award at Gamescom Opening Night Live 2023. We thank the industry for recognizing our efforts in green gaming, but we can achieve more by working with others. That’s why we’re excited to welcome Activision Blizzard, one of America’s Greenest Companies 2024, to Team Xbox. We look forward to working with our new teammates at Activision Blizzard and King, who are already improving the impact of games.

And more from Team Microsoft: Visit us Microsoft unlocked to explore innovations in Microsoft products, partners and customers that help achieve our carbon goals!