Yesterday Ubisoft announced that they would eliminate paper game manuals in all future video games, and also introduce new ‘Eco Friendly’ game cases. Here is their announcement:
Today Ubisoft announced an environmental initiative to eliminate paper game manuals, replacing them with an in-game digital manual for all titles on PlayStation®3 (PS3™) system and Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft. The program, the first initiative of its kind in the video game industry, launches worldwide with Shaun White Skateboarding this holiday 2010.
Ubisoft’s digital game manuals will provide multiple benefits for the player and the environment. Including the game manual directly in the game will offer the player easier and more intuitive access to game information, as well as allow Ubisoft to provide gamers with a more robust manual. Ubisoft internal data shows that producing one ton of paper used in Ubisoft’s game manuals consumes an average of two tons of wood from 13 trees, with a net energy of 28 million BTU’s (equivalent to average heating and energy for one home/year), greenhouse gases equivalent of over 6,000 lbs of CO2, and wastewater of almost 15,000 gallons.
“It’s pretty cool that Ubisoft is making a conscious effort to go green with its new video game packaging,” commented Olympic Gold Medalist Shaun White. “I’m excited for my new skateboarding game to come out and stoked that it will be the very first Ubisoft game to be part of their green packaging initiatives.”
In addition to Ubisoft’s efforts to decrease paper usage in its game packaging, Ubisoft has partnered with Technimark, Inc. to release the entertainment industry’s most environmentally-responsible DVD case for all of its future PC titles in North America. The 100 percent-recycled polypropylene “ecoTech” DVD case will make its debut with Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Conviction PC video game on April 27, 2010. Ubisoft has featured digital game manuals in its PC titles distributed in North America since March 2010.
“Ubisoft is often recognized for making great games, but it’s a special privilege to be the industry leader at saving trees,” said Laurent Detoc, president of Ubisoft North America. “Eco-friendly initiatives are important to the global community and introducing in-game digital manuals on Xbox 360 and PS3 is just the latest example of Ubisoft’s ongoing commitment to being a more environmentally conscious company.”
For PC gamers this is nothing new – for years many new release games have come with PDF manuals, and it has been the standard cost-cutting measure in second-run, Mac-port, or ‘collection’ releases for at least a decade. Still … gamers have had mixed feelings the entire time – and I know my kids wouldn’t be thrilled about losing their game manuals, since they get limited gaming time as it is.
There have already been moves by Microsoft and Nintendo at making cases using less material – and those have been met with widespread criticism as the resulting cases are flimsy and often arrive cracked or broken and do a poor job at their main task – protecting the DVD they enclose. It remains to be seen how robust these cases are.
I think that I have evidenced myself as pretty much a tree hugger in some product reviews, and as such I am always cynically suspicious of these corporate efforts. But to be honest, while my assumption is that this is clearly a ‘cost saving’ effort first and foremost, the end result is less non-biodegradable material used, less usage of raw materials, less weight for shipment (and hence less fuel) … all in all this is a GREAT thing from a ‘green’ standpoint.
Oh – and while I give kudos for Ubisoft for their environmental move, I cannot pass up giving another reminder that Ubisoft is also the perpetrator of the worst and most anti-consumer DRM schemes currently infesting games:
So what do you think – is Ubisoft doing this for money or the environment? Or, like I surmise, for money, but touting the environmental impact to make themselves look good while simultaneously increasing profits by removing something many gamers actually like in games?
Source: Ubisoft
