Sega Europe announced their intent to publish all physical PC games in recyclable packaging on Twitter Thursday. They began the trend withFootball Manager 2020, released on Halloween 2019 by Sega subsidiary Sports Interactive in a recycled cardboard package, and will continue to do so starting with the definitive “Enemy at the Gates” edition of2013’sTotal War: Rome 2on February 6.
Before the release ofFootball Manager 2020, Sports Interactive Studio Director Miles Jacobson put out an open letter on theFootball Managernews blog. He said the decision to reduce the environmental impact of the gaming industry’s wide-spread use of plastic casing was being made by Sega and its subsidiaries in the lead-up to the United Nations' Climate Action Summit 2019; even if switching to the lighter, recyclable packaging would cost an additional 20 cents-per-case.
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In that same letter, Jacobson quoted Spanish football player Hector Bellerin from the Sports Interactive YouTube video announcing their packaging change by saying “if there’s no Earth, there’s no money to spend.” Though Sega is ahead of the curve on changing their packaging, they are among companies like Steam which raised money for environmental causes through aWorld Environment Day sale in 2019.
According to gamesindustry.biz reporter Haydn Taylor, a representative from Sega Europe told the gaming news website that their policy will not extend to titles released for PlayStation, Xbox, or Nintendo because of first-party publishing guidelines. Perhaps that could change if companies like Sony and Microsoft rethink their packaging policies for theupcoming PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, but as of now that’s more of a ‘what if’ situation to consider.
Total Waris one of a few franchises Sega expressed interest in reviving and expanding back in 2017 alongsideFootball Manager,Yakuza, andPersona. The combination real-time tactical battling and turn-based strategy series of PC games has been around since 2000, with its most recent entryTotal War: Three Kingdomscoming out in early 2019.
Sega has been in the news often recently thanks to the impending release of alive-actionSonic the Hedgehogmovie, which is currently expected to have a big opening weekend this month. That the company is using its platform to spread an environmentally-conscious message is admirable to say the least, and it would behoove others to follow suit in the new decade.
