The nonprofit Sustainable Games Alliance (SGA) has launched its standard for sustainable games that game industry participants can use to measure their sustainability.
One year after its founding, the alliance has delivered a sustainability framework already in use by more than 30 members worldwide.
The Helsinki-based SGA is a global non-profit cooperative of game developers, universities and associations. It is unveiling the Sustainable Games Standard, the first global emissions reporting framework created specifically for the games industry.
Established in 2024, SGA set out to bring studios, publishers, associations, and partners
together around a common goal: making gaming the most sustainable form of entertainment.
Just a year later, that goal has moved from vision to reality. With more than 30 members and partners already involved, the Sustainable Games Standard gives the industry a freely
available, practical tool to measure, benchmark, and reduce emissions across development, publishing, distribution, and infrastructure.
“With the Sustainable Games Standard, the industry finally has a framework that reflects
how games are actually made, turning ambition into actionable impact. It is a commitment of the industry uniting companies, associations, and researchers under one standard to drive change at scale. Our ambition is to make gaming the most sustainable entertainment medium, and industry wide strategic action based on easily accessible and comparable data is the only way we’ll get there.” said Maria Wagner, managing director of the Sustainable Games Alliance, in a statement.
A framework designed for games
Unlike generic reporting tools, the Sustainable Games Standard has been built around the
unique needs of the games sector and its value chain. Covering everything from game
design and server infrastructure to marketing and hardware, the framework enables
companies to:
● Track emissions with accuracy specific to games
● Benchmark performance across titles and companies
● Identify improvements that cut costs and reduce environmental impact
● Comply with new regulations in Europe and beyond
● Optimize energy consumption and extend battery life
● Reduce hardware load and optimize performance
● Enhance the player experience
Importantly, the framework is freely available, ensuring studios of all sizes, from AAA to
indie, can take part.
Global Industry Support
The Sustainable Games Alliance already unites a broad coalition of studios, publishers,
service providers, and associations. Together, these organizations represent every corner of the industry, from pioneering indie developers and global studios to trade associations and research initiatives, reflecting a growing momentum for systemic, industry-wide action on sustainability.
“The SGA Standard paves the way for greater transparency and streamlined collaboration
between game developers, manufacturers, and service providers to more effectively contribute to emissions reduction,” said Mathias Gredal Nørvig, CEO of Sybo, in a statement. “An industry standard for measurement and reporting is the critical next step in making the gaming landscape’s sustainability efforts more efficient and impactful.”
Sybo has been very active in encouraging climate awareness among players with its different integrations of such campaigns in Subway Surfers.
“To accurately measure our company’s full carbon footprint, we need transparent data from our partners. While we get detailed emissions reporting for some services like business travel, there are major data gaps when it comes to digital service infrastructure. This prevents us from truly understanding our impact. Standardized reporting for services is essential—it would empower customers and providers alike to make meaningful climate
progress. That’s why I’m excited to see what we can achieve with the SGA Standard,” said
Tommi Lappalainen, senior sustainability manager at Rovio Entertainment, in a statement.
“Energy efficiency is not just a technical detail, it’s a competitive advantage. Longer battery
life keeps players engaged on the go, while lower energy demand contributes to a more
sustainable game industry. To make real progress, we need reliable ways to measure and
compare performance across the industry, and it is exciting to see SGA being a leader of
that transformation”, said Laurent Gibert, principal product strategy architect &
co-lead at Unity Montreal, in a statement.
From launch to action
The launch of the Sustainable Games Standard marks the beginning of a new chapter for
the industry, one where environmental responsibility becomes part of how games are made.
It is paving the way for more strategic and systemic reporting and emissions reduction by
enabling integration into game engines, platforms, and by service providers, saving developers time and money by delivering better data, faster and with greater transparency freeing up capacities for studios to focus on creating more sustainable, just better games.
Throughout 2025 and 2026, the Sustainable Games Alliance (SGA) will support adoption of
the standard and will host workshops, case studies, and presentations that showcase results from early members and demonstrate real-world impact.
SGA is calling on developers, publishers, platforms, investors, and associations worldwide to join the initiative and help position gaming as a global leader in sustainable entertainment.
SGA already has 33 members from 11 different countries including PC, console & mobile
game developers, research groups, and local as well as pan-European trade associations.
Its members are: Arctic Game, Black Soup, Bold Beetle Games, Charged Monkey, Clean Play, Colossal Order Ltd, EGDF, Ever Curious Entertainment Inc., Expa Game Business Cooperative, Fingersoft, Game Only, Games Denmark, Horizon Europe STRATEGIES, IGDA Climate SIG, INSTINCT3 GmbH, Lockwood Publishing, London Games, MOOD ApS / MOOD Holding ApS, Neogames Finland ry, Nitro Games Plc, Psyon Games, Remedy, Second Stage GmbH, Secret Exit Oy, SGDA, Spielfabrique, Sports Interactive, Starbreeze, Super Evil Megacorp, SYBO, Tactile Games ApS, and WLove Games.