Into the Starfield... and straight back to Earth
Your latest digest of video game and climate change news from the past two weeks.
Welcome to the latest edition of Play Anthropocene!
Today is Tuesday, September 19th, and we’re covering the latest developments in the world of video games and climate change. Happy reading!
Apple hires Octavia Spencer to pat its own back on climate commitments
Though we’re often covering developments in the console and PC space at Play Anthropocene, lest we forget that mobile gaming is by far the largest player within the industry, accounting for approximately 60% of its total market, equivalent to $136 billion in value, as of last year.
It’s no surprise, then, that Apple is a key leader within that space. Not only did gaming make up the majority of total spending by consumers on its App Store last year, but the company even launched a dedicated mobile gaming subscription service - Apple Arcade - back in 2019, and even recently announced that major, AAA games like Assassin’s Creed Mirage and Resident Evil 4 Remake will be able to run natively on the iPhone 15 Pro.
That means that when Apple releases new information about its ongoing work on the environment, as the company did at its latest Apple Event last week, interested parties within the games industry should pay attention. But Tim Cook & Co. did more than just release new information; they went all out to showcase the progress they’re making when it comes to environmental impact, complete with a flashy, five minute trailer in which Mother Nature (played by Octavia Spencer, because who else?) sits down with the team to check in on their progress.
While it may seem a little rich for Apple to be giving its own environmental efforts the seal of approval from the personification of nature herself, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t somewhat entertained by the whole thing, and Spencer’s natural penchant for side-eye does at least allow for some wordless acknowledgement from the company that it knows it could always be doing better.
In any case, the big news from all this was that Apple aims to have all of its products certified as Carbon Neutral by 2030, starting with select editions of the Apple Watch later this year. Here’s how that carbon neutrality is achieved, in Apple’s own words:
Each carbon neutral Apple Watch model meets the following strict criteria: 100 percent clean electricity for manufacturing and product use, 30 percent recycled or renewable material by weight, and 50 percent of shipping without the use of air transportation. These combined efforts result in at least a 75 percent reduction in product emissions for each model. The company will use high-quality carbon credits to address the small amount of remaining emissions, resulting in a carbon neutral product footprint.
It’s an enticing sell, all told, but reflects a product-focused mentality from Apple that ultimately deflects from the bigger picture of the company’s wider operational carbon footprint, and more importantly the ongoing caveat underlying its entire approach to the production line.
By releasing an updated version of its products every year or so, carbon neutral or not, Apple is encouraging its customers to churn through device after slightly iterative device, rather than holding onto the ones they have. That means more products being needlessly manufactured and shipped around the world at the expense of those that already exist, all of which leads to more mining, emissions, and waste.
Other companies such as Fairphone are working to spearhead a different path for the tech sector, offering five year guarantees for their devices, with a commitment to replace any part of the device in line with their modular design. With e-waste levels continuing to rise around the globe, industry leaders like Apple could do to learn a thing or two from that kind of approach, rethinking its outmoded attitude towards product life cycles.
The better news is that Apple is still making decent progress towards its 2030 carbon-neutrality goals, with gross emissions down 45% since 2015, and the company’s mineral supply chain continuing to improve (the iPhone 15 contains 100% recycled cobalt in the battery, recycled rare earth elements in the magnets, recycled copper foil in the main logic board; and recycled aluminium in the internal structural frame).
I’m not going to pretend that there isn’t a lot more the company could be doing (the less said about carbon credits, the better), but the reality is that Apple, in many ways, is leading its field on reducing the environmental impact of its supply chain, even if the bar within that field has never exactly been sky high.
Still, the best advice I can give to those who want to reduce the footprint of their mobile gaming pastime? The most sustainable phone you can buy is the one that you choose not to purchase at all.
What on Earth is happening in Starfield?
Starfield, the latest role-playing title from Bethesda Game Studios, launched a little under two weeks ago now, offering players a new science-fiction power fantasy spanning the vast expanse of space. This expanse is not a galaxy far, far away, however, but one featuring our very own solar system, which can be travelled to pretty early on from the beginning of the game.
Alas, don’t get too excited about the prospect of visiting your hometown, as Starfield’s version of Earth is a very different place to the planet you’re familiar with. In the game’s futurist fiction, a dangerous series of science experiments led to the destabilization of the globe’s magnetosphere, giving humankind around fifty years to evacuate to the stars before the resulting calamity decimated every living thing that called it home.
I’m of two minds about the implications presented here. On the plus side, it’s encouraging to see a game present a version of humanity that genuinely comes together in good faith to act decisively against a real and present danger to all life (in this case, funnelling vast amounts of resources into colonising new planets under the supervision of the newly formed United Colonies).
On the flipside, Starfield also presents the solution to a human-caused global crisis as the abandonment of Earth entirely. While that may make sense for the game’s story, it’s not a particularly healthy outlook to be indulging in, given our present day situation, but don’t just take it from me. Even the European Space Agency agrees, telling Eurogamer last month that space exploration is not, and should never be considered as, the hunt for “a replacement for Earth.”
“We evolved for Earth. We need to make sure that Earth remains friendly to humans. […] There is no planet B.”
Emmet Fletcher, European Space Agency
Relatedly, I think it’s telling that one of the first things that many players want to do, myself included, when first booting up the game is to go and visit Earth. We have an entire galaxy to explore, replete thousands of planets promising wild adventures, exotic discoveries, and memorable characters… and yet, for some reason, home still calls to us.
That’s because to be human is be an inhabitant of Earth; we feel it’s pull wherever we go. To let it simply succumb to a catastrophe of our own doing, then, would be to let a large piece of our primordial identity as a species die with it. Several commentaries have described the experience of wandering the barren landscapes of Starfield’s Earth as a strangely sobering one. It’s no surprise, really, as doing so allows us to imagine how existentially distressing life could be without it.
Even with its goggle-eyed posture towards space pioneering, then, it’s possible that the most powerful layer of Starfield’s speculative fiction ironically sits much closer to home. In forcing players to consider the psychological repercussions of Earthlessness, Bethesda’s galaxy colonising sim can perhaps help players understand why fighting for this planet’s future is so crucial to our own.
Sharing is caring: A sheepish Play Anthropocene Plea
I’m ending today’s piece a little differently, reflecting on where the newsletter has come, and how you, dear reader, could help shape where it goes next. To my delight, Play Anthropocene has been growing steadily ever since its launch at the start of this year, with each new edition of the newsletter hitting more inboxes, and receiving more engagement, than the last.
I’m pretty chuffed about that direction of travel, all told, and forever grateful of the support Play Anthropocene has received along the way, whether that’s from those of you who have dutifully read each and every edition of the newsletter since it’s very beginning, or others who have sent a kind message of encouragement via Substack, email, or elsewhere.
That said, with the state of social media being what it is, it’s becoming more and more difficult to reach to new audiences purely through my own efforts, and though Play Anthropocene is running on a steady momentum right now, I’m forever aware of the fact that a plateauing could be on the horizon for the newsletter without continued pushes for organically widening its reach.
So, if you ever get to the bottom of this newsletter, and genuinely found it to be interesting, informative, or perhaps even entertaining, I have a gentle favour to ask; would you consider re-promoting it within your own circles?
This might be a case of simply clicking the “Restack” button at the top of this page, if you’re on Substack, but other platforms such as Linkedin and X also support direct links to each edition of the newsletter via Shares. Heck, if you’re a fellow newsletter-er, you might even consider recommending Play Anthropocene, as I do for several other Substack publications that I enjoy and admire myself.
It might seem like a trivial ask, but trust me when I say that your endorsement of Play Anthropocene holds a lot more authority that my own. We’ve all skipped past the endless stream of self-promoted new podcasts and platforms from internet strangers, but when they come recommended by a trusted friend or industry peer? Well, that’s the social curation machine working at its finest, right there.
Ultimately, I would love to see Play Anthropocene reach as many inboxes across the industry as possible, because the more people within the industry who are thinking and talking about climate change, the more its culture can help to unlock huge positive changes for the better.
Okay, beseechment over. I’ll get up off my knees now. Of course, like I said in my very first Play Anthropocene post back in January, even if you just read this and never return to the newsletter again, thank you, seriously. Play Anthropocene wouldn’t be very much without its readership, and I am forever appreciative of the time and attention you’ve all given it thus far.
Enjoyed this newsletter? Subscribe or spread the word about Play Anthropocene to others who might be interested, and if you have any feedback or questions, feel free to get in touch with me at PlayAnthropocene@gmail.com
Find me on Twitter: @alexavard95