Olga Kapitonova – Managing Director Positive Impact Gamesdeveloper of The Regreening, lays out the case for how video games can change attitudes towards climate change.
Over the past five years we have seen increased industry attention to climate and biodiversity topics, with headlines such as Terra Nile, Alba: Adventure in the Wild, Beyond Blueupcoming Everything will riseand our own game, landscaping. European foundations now encourage environmental themes and increasingly support climate-related work; studio founders promote these themes because of a convergence of values; And the players themselves are signaling a growing interest in stories that don't treat nature as a commodity. What was once a niche topic is starting to look like a trend.
One of the reasons these games resonate is timing.
We live in an era where environmental anxiety is no longer just an issue, but a core emotional reality. Global study published by The Lancet found that 45% of young people say climate change is affecting their daily functioning, and more than half believe humanity is “doomed” if nothing changes. It's a pretty bleak picture: we're stuck between a crisis on a planetary scale and institutions that clearly aren't doing enough to prevent it.
Much climate communication is exacerbating the problem. It draws heavily on disaster and represents a series of losses, turning points and irreversible events. Yes, this is true, but the constant drumbeat of “the world is ending” makes people feel helpless, which in turn leads to paralysis and alienation. They turn off notifications, avoid articles, and scroll through anything that contains a photo of a burning landscape. This reaction is often mistaken for apathy; however, the opposite is true. Half or more gamers say they feel sad, fearful, disgusted, angry or outraged when they think about global warming. People aren't overwhelmed because they don't care; they are overwhelmed because they care too much.
This is the psychological landscape we work with. But as video games are an industry not known for sure for carbon neutrality – will it help the situation?
Joy as a Radical Counterforce
It is clear that games cannot replace the political action, institutional responsibility or structural changes that the planet urgently needs. Their influence is indirect: they shape perception, motivation and willingness to act. Games themselves don't offer solutions, but they do provide what is chronically missing from climate conversations: experiences in which actions have visible consequences and the possibility of improvement still exists.
Games as a medium are great for engagement because they allow players to make meaningful decisions rather than just passively stare at a screen. When you take an action in the game, the world reacts: the city survives, the system stabilizes, the villain is punished. This cause-and-effect cycle helps people feel capable and curious: even when the stakes are high, you can always reset if you fail.
Recent Scientific Report shows that participants who play pro-environmental games report higher self-efficacy and a greater likelihood of engaging in actual pro-environmental behavior. This means that by giving players agency in a virtual ecosystem (allowing them to restore forests, clean up polluted waters, or restore ecological balance), games can reinforce the belief that people can make a difference.
In my opinion, the key ingredient that makes this possible is joy. Particularly structured, feedback-based, and rewarding is the joy that can be found in games that offer players the opportunity to take a much-needed mental break by providing a way to confront the fear of reality in a safe, controlled environment.
In a culture that capitalizes on fear, weariness and hopelessness, joy is radical. This is not escapism, but a refusal to become numb or defeated in the face of climate paralysis. People know that the crisis is real. They just don't believe they can influence it. And when the game asks the player to replant a forest instead of conquering a kingdom, or clean up an oil spill instead of defeating a villain, it offers a vision of the world that is possible without rewarding speed, mining, and competition.
This is where healthy games are often misunderstood. The label makes people think of delicacy, softness, and pastel colors—and yes, some people have that aesthetic. But the design philosophy behind them is not “cute” but rather “hopeful.” These games focus on cooperation, empathy, patience and regeneration. And most importantly, this kind of regenerative play transforms anxiety into agency. People don't reveal motivation through fear; they open it when they feel supported enough to try. This emotional shift is the first step to real action.
What games can and cannot do
Games cannot solve the climate crisis. They are not a substitute for activism, legislative change, or systemic reform. Their power lies elsewhere: in the way they shape perceptions, emotions and motivation.
They can:
- Normalize hope and rebirth as cultural narratives;
- Provide emotional relief from the “we are doomed” cycle;
- Offer safe experiments;
- Make environmental action achievable through modeling and feedback;
- Encourage long-term curiosity;
- Strengthen the sense of collective responsibility and empowerment;
- Involve people in real eco-projects (with organizational assistance from developers).
It's time to celebrate that in 2020… Space Ape Games has raised over $120,000 in donations for wildlife and humanitarian charities fighting bushfires in Australia. Likewise, in 2022 Fortnite raised $144 million for humanitarian assistance to people affected by the war in Ukraine. Projects that promote environmental action by players, such as funding tree planting, protecting wildlife habitat, cleaning up local environments, etc., are recognized annually in the Playing for the Planet Awards (more inspiring projects are mentioned in the Playing for the Planet section). Game for the winners of Planet 2025 list.) Such initiatives are available to any developer, large or small.
However, games also have clear limitations. Not everyone plays them, and access is determined by socioeconomic, geographic and technological barriers. They cannot drive systemic change, change corporate behavior, or prevent species extinction. Even when players experience agency in a game, that feeling does not automatically translate into actual action: meaningful change requires opportunities, guidance, and structures that allow motivation to extend beyond the screen.
The point is not that games replace real action, but that they bring joy and create conditions for action to occur. By turning anxiety into engagement, rewarding persistence, and demonstrating the impact of caring, games provide a space to rehearse hope.
This is work Positive Impact Games what we do: we make useful and cozy games that lift your spirits, unite you and inspire change. This is the mission behind our upcoming project, The Regreening, in which you grow plants to create living ecosystems, befriend ancient spirits, and create your own recycling center. We are not trying to offer an escape from reality, but we are trying to build a bridge to it, strengthened by hope. Our goal is to inspire players to continue to reimagine, contribute, and act from the core belief that their choices can and do matter.
