We’re excited to share the launch of the Franchise Hacking Toolkit — a brand‑new resource developed within Work Package 6 (Hacking Games to Reimagine Consumption) of the STRATEGIES project. Building on our growing body of research into hacking as a creative, critical, and sustainability‑oriented design practice, this toolkit empowers educators, researchers, students, and creators to reimagine existing game franchises as instruments for future‑thinking and ecological literacy.

What happens when a game is designed not just to entertain, but to help us re‑imagine how power works in the real world?
That’s the question STRATEGIES researcher Joost Vervoort dives into on the latest episode of Player Driven, where host Lewis Ward leads a rich conversation on Joost’s upcoming game, All Will Rise.

What begins as a discussion about game mechanics quickly opens into something bigger: how games shape culture, how they can open political imagination, and why interactive systems are uniquely suited to help players explore complex societal themes.

See the full discussion on the findings of two research projects on the impact of AI on sustainability goals, aiming to equip developers with the knowledge that can help align the use of these technologies with sustainability. This video is a collaboration between STRATEGIES and the Sustainable Games Alliance. Find more industry videos over on their YouTube channel.

An increasing number of people, including game developers, describe feelings of eco-anxiety: the emotional distress caused by environmental destruction, planetary decay, and facing an uncertain future. In response, developers have begun to coordinate and take action against climate change within their possibilities as game makers, from in-game climate marches to transformations of production procedures. Many of these actions were introduced through bottom-up processes and grassroots efforts, driven by a sense of urgency and care for both people and the planet.

In January 2026, STRATEGIES researcher Joost Vervoort spoke on a panel at Pocket Gamer Connects, a UK-based games industry conference. The panel was led by Tara Mustapha (Code Coven), Jennifer Estaris (Netflix), Joshua Nilson (Maskwa Games) and Bryan Mashinter (MashLab) and focused on how games can contribute to positive change in society. Joost talked about how STRATEGIES engages both with making games more sustainable and with games as a space for exploring sustainable futures.

GAME ONLY is one of the Sustainable Games Alliance partners integrating the Sustainable Games Standard into their carbon accounting and reporting tool, JYROS 🙌