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

From Eco-Anxiety to Action: How Game Makers Take Responsibility for People and the Planet

Speaker: Ruth Dorothea Eggel

As climate anxiety rises, game makers are turning fear into action. While global data on the industry's environmental footprint remains incomplete, some developers are taking matters into their own hands. They introduce ecological themes in games and adopt strategies for more sustainable production. These bottom-up efforts challenge industry norms, value care over crunch, and reimagine what games and game work can be. As part of the EU project STRATEGIES, this talk draws on the practical expertise of industry practitioners, explores the challenges of game making in times of climate change and presents a multitude of strategies that game studios and developers currently deploy.

Time and Location: Thursday, August 21, 2025 2:30 PM to 3:00 PM, Stage 4.

Fighting apocalyptic fascism with video games

Speaker: Joost Vervoort (and Katherine Lewis)

This 60 minute workshop will use a set of structured questions to discuss together what it looks like to make games that seek to resist tyranny and create a better world. Why and how could games make a difference? How can games help in the fight for a better world while still being commercially viable, attractive games that avoid the ‘serious game’ label? How do such games engage with cultural imaginations? What is needed in terms of industry infrastructures, funding and mobilization to develop such games and make them impactful as well as successful? We will then dive into a case: the development of ALL WILL RISE, a game about dragging billionaires to court for destroying the planet.

Time and Location: Thursday, August 21, 2025 2:30 PM to 3:30 PM, Stage 8.