Games for Culture [10 June]

As part of the Horizon Europe “Games for Culture” cluster, project coordinator Joost Raessens will present STRATEGIES’ research findings from the first two years.

The EU Horizon project STRATEGIES focuses on how games (both digital and physical) can contribute to a more sustainable future. As part of its many activities to support this focus, we have organized two international meetings focusing on how funding, policy and other infrastructure can support a thriving European and global game sector when it comes to making games more sustainable and helping games be a cultural force for a more sustainable world. The first meeting focused on the role of policy makers, funders and investors; and the second meeting focused on the perspective of game developers, especially in the independent games context.

How can universities and research institutes help build a more sustainable games industry — and what does that look like in practice?

Join the latest meet-up organised as part of the Sustainable Games Alliance's Academic Network, a growing global initiative co-led by STRATEGIES researcher Chloé Wake and Patrick Prax, Associate Professor at the Department of Game Design at Uppsala University, Sweden. The Academic Network reflects the longstanding collaboration between STRATEGIES and the SGA, working together to bring the latest research and best practice directly to the games industry.

Europe Day [May 9]

As part of Europe Day 2026, STRATEGIES presents its research to a broad audience.

STRATEGIES researcher Matthes Lindner presents initial findings from ongoing research conducted by STRATEGIES and SpielFabrique into the financial sustainability of impact-focused game development.

Want to learn more about ecogame design and designing game industry training games for sustainable development?

Between Apocalyptic Scenarios and Energy Consumption: Can Games Be Part of the Solution — or Are They Part of the Problem?

In this meetup, the Sustainable Games Alliance and STRATEGIES will present the findings of two research projects on the impact of AI on sustainability goals.

This policy-making session for the Games Industry is part of the GREAT project Final Event, which focuses on the gaming industry and policy-making. STRATEGIES researchers from Spielfabrique and Manchester Metropolitan University will be participating, as part of their continuing research on Work Package 4: Policy Innovation.

Join researchers from the STRATEGIES (Sustainable Transition for Europe’s Game Industries) project for an afternoon of playing and analysing “green board games” and contribute to our growing ecogame ludography project, in collaboration with Utrecht University and the Green Mediography.

SGA Connects brings together representatives from universities and institutes who are committed to advancing a more sustainable games industry. It serves as a platform to share best practices, current knowledge, innovative ideas, and upcoming projects. The goal is to foster global collaboration and promote more effective and cost-efficient implementation of sustainable practices within the games industry – Understand how universities and institutes can support game developers of the future by embedding sustainable practices and ecological thinking in training programmes and education, equipping future industry with the skills they need.

STRATEGIES researchers will be at this years’s Gamescom Congress talking about their research on eco-action and fighting fascism.

Gamescom is almost here! 🎮
And this year, we’ve got two great opportunities to hang out, share ideas, and talk about making our industry more sustainable.

1️⃣ 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐆𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐒𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐌𝐢𝐱𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐬
📅 Wed, Aug 20 | 15:00 – 16:30
📍 Croatian Booth – Hall 4.1, Stand D-030

If you’re into climate-conscious development, building inclusive studios, or just curious about how we can make the games industry greener and fairer, this one’s for you.

Join game designers Matteo Menapace, Paolo Pedercini (Molleindustria, CMU), and STRATEGIES researcher, Chloé Germaine, as we discuss our work at the intersection of games and ecosocialist politics.

We will explore how games can be made, played, and hacked ecologically. And we'll have lots of time for your questions! Our chat is part of Games Transformed, a festival of games and progressive politics.

On July 4, 2025, Joost Raessens participated in the Symposium on Innovative Technologies in Research and Education at the Erasmus University Rotterdam.

Magic: The Gathering – The Eco Hack is a 3-hour hands-on workshop that uses the concept of ‘franchise hacking’ developed by game design researchers Dr Stefan Werning (Utrecht University), Professor Paul Wake and Dr Chloé Germaine (Manchester Metropolitan University). In this session you will join these researchers to design and playtest your own custom cards and decks for Magic: The Gathering, exploring its potential environmental themes and stories.  All materials will be provided.

This workshop features in the series of events taking place at the UK Games Expo, the UK’s largest hobby game convention. The convention takes place at the Birmingham NEC Fri 30 May to Sun 1 June, 2025.

There are no easy answers for to how to “green” board games.  In this roundtable session you will hear from the people grappling with the important dilemmas. They will share the strategies they have used to reduce the impact of their games on the planet. This is a debate – so not everyone will agree and there will be some surprises in store. Greening board games doesn’t just mean swapping plastic for cardboard – in fact, sometimes that might not be the right choice! 

Come along to this session at the UK Games Expo and explore the whole sustainability journey of games, through design choices, manufacturing, distribution, and, importantly, to think about how we consume and share our board games. There will be opportunities to share your experiences of how you have responded to the climate emergency as a board game designer, manufacturer, or player, and to meet members of the Green Games Guide board and the STRATEGIES [Sustainable Transition for Europe’s Game Industries] research project. 

Supporting sustainable practices in the games industry brings together industry experts and sustainability researchers to review the latest data and innovations in sustainable game development practices from across Europe.

The discussion panel is part of Nordic Game 2025, a dynamic showcase of games industry innovators that includes a variety of talks and workshops over three days.

Carbon Literacy Training Workshop for STRATEGIES researchers and partners

On May 8th, researchers from Work Package 6, Dr Jane Mork and Dr Rachel Dunk, will be sharing their pioneering Carbon Literacy Training with the STRATEGIES consortium and partners.

The Eco Hack is a 3-hour hands-on workshop where you will design and playtest your own custom cards and decks for Magic: The Gathering. This beta workshop takes place in Manchester, at the Manchester Poetry Library. A second event will take place at the UK Games Expo on May 31, in Birmingham (see listing below).

STRATEGIES researchers Professor Sonia Fizek and Dr Ruth Dorothea Eggel will be presenting their research findings at STS Hub 2025, in Berlin. STS Hub is a conference series that brings together German organisations, labs, and research groups that are more or less closely related to Science and Technology Studies. 

We would like to invite you to participate in a workshop and subsequent survey aimed at policy makers engaged in sustainable transitions in European Game Industries.

The workshop we are planning addresses some of the research already undertaken, defines policy gaps and solutions for enabling climate change action by the games industry, and allows for discussion between the attending stakeholders to share and align perspectives.

When?

Thursday Feb 13, 2025 ⋅ 14:00 – 16:00 (Central European Time - Berlin)

Where?

Online - contact R.Shand@mmu.ac.uk for more info.

Professor Paul Wake and Dr Chloe Germaine will be speaking to sustainability researchers and educators at the University of York.

Their paper, which draws on the methodological innovations in participatory research with games, considers how “hacking” and “jamming” are modes of play that support effort to address behavioural and cultural change for climate action.

The conference for the game community of interest in all things sustainable

STRATEGIES will be supporting the second annual Sustainability Nexus Conference on 12th November 2024, co-hosted by Spielfabrique, and their event on sustainable policy in games held at Cologne Game Lab. The Sustainability Nexus Conference is a hybrid event with satellite events all over Europe and online.

We have come to understand that we cannot tackle the range of alarming societal and environmental issues in silos. They are all interconnected. Our annual hybrid conference, based in Cologne and all across Europe, serves as a dynamic meeting point for global industry leaders, policy-makers, and scientists - to connect, learn from one another, and to align existing efforts. 

In 2024, the Sustainability Nexus Conference is entering its second edition and hosting the most impactful sustainability stakeholders and innovators in the scene. 

The Sustainability Nexus conference is a global event proudly hosted by Stockholm Business Region together with BSG!GO

Join us for the Green Gaming Seminar Day at the Silesian Museum/Muzeum Slaskie in Katowice, Poland, and find out about the relationship between gaming, climate change, and our cultural heritage. Learn about the game industry’s sustainable transition and how gaming can support climate education.

Green Gaming Seminar will feature game designers, academics, and education professionals in a series of talks, discussions and workshops for university students – lecture, panels and presentation open to all.

Find out More….