Players could cut their carbon emissions by a staggering 96% by choosing to digitally download a video game rather than buying a physical copy, new research reveals. 

This is because the plastics required to create the plastic case, coated disc and printed leaflet results in CO2 emissions of 0.39kg per game, while a digital download has a far lower carbon footprint of 0.017kg/CO2. 

The games industry saw a significant increase in digital downloads in 2019, which accounted for 83% of all game sales last year. In the UK the physical sales of video games dropped by 19.8%, whilst digital sales grew by 1.1% to generate £3.17 billion in revenue. 

Analysis shows that gamers can also cut their carbon footprint by choosing to play on a more energy-efficient console. Console emissions can be calculated based on the average power usage, with the highly-anticipated PlayStation 5 set to be the most sustainable PlayStation since the Classic. 

Converting the average power usage of each console into CO2 emissions reveals that the PlayStation Classic is the most eco-friendly, while Xboxes account for the highest carbon footprint on average with 0.031kg/CO2e per hour.  

Most polluting consoles released to date

Looking at the 1.5 million physical units sold of the most popular game in 2019 - FIFA 20 - reveals that 595,395kg of CO2e was produced as a result of manufacturing the 102,000kg of plastic required for the boxed cases and coated discs.

FIFA 20’s physical sales were down 7% compared with those of FIFA 19, while the video game industry saw a 3.4% drop in sales overall, meaning FIFA 20 sold around 11,114,124 total units over the past year - just 10% of which were physical copies.

With 21 gaming companies - including Sony - having pledged to reduce their collective CO2 footprint by more than 30 million tonnes by 2030, it’s crucial that major console companies continue to prioritise sustainable power usage and quick download times moving forward.