In Light of Recent Controversies in Games, One Publisher Wants To Change How Games Are Made

thegamer.com:

It’s no secret that the games industry has a labour and culture problem. Exploitative overworking, union busting and cycles of abuse feel almost endemic to this field, with gaming behemoths like Activision Blizzard, Ubisoft, and Riot Games making headlines for their own culture of harassment and discrimination in recent years. But these problems aren't limited to the sphere of triple-A studios alone; indie studios are just as culpable, too. Just in March this year, the journalists from People Make Games shed light on instances of rampant emotional abuse by three indie gaming auteurs: Ken Wong from Mountains, Steve Gaynor from Fullbright, and Robin Hunicke from Funomena.

At the same time, these concerns are set in the backdrop of something bigger: the environmental decay in the face of the climate crisis and the pandemic. It’s hard to see how video games can be tied to our ecological woes, but this is a reality that game-makers—as well as players—have to reckon with. Gaming is now so energy-intensive that it has led to significant environmental impact. According to this report, gaming in the US has presented $5 billion per year in energy expenditure, with 24 metric ton per year of associated carbon-dioxide emissions that’s equivalent to 85 million refrigerators, or five million cars.

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It’s in the midst of such a climate that Swedish games publisher Kinda Brave is looking to change how games are being made, with a vision that’s staunchly focused on sustainability. The publisher is a newly formed organisation that refers to its setup as ‘hybrid indie’ which, in short, is giving the studios under its charge the freedom to develop its own games