New Study Finds Physical Games Are 100x More Carbon-Intensive Than Digital

"Ultimately, downloading a digital copy imposes emissions linked to electricity use at home, as well as the energy use of the concerned data center--but it does not have the same impact as the emissions created by the industry in terms of landfill and excessive waste, which are primarily still accounted for by physical consoles and hard disc copies of games."

"Ultimately, the production of a physical game disc involves the extraction of rare earth metals and the production of plastic, which in turn requires the usage of machines, processes, and labor that contribute to the drain on resources. This includes the manufacturing of consoles, with Greenly estimating that these devices consume 3.9 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity a year in the US and are responsible for the production of 1.6 million metric tons of CO2e (Carbon Dioxide equivalent)."

Physical copies of video games are about 100 times more carbon-intensive than digital downloads. Manufacturing and transporting 1 million discs can produce roughly 312 tons CO2, while 1 million 70GB downloads emit about 3 tons CO2. Cloud-based gaming adds emissions via energy-hungry data centers and continuous electricity use at home. Production of discs requires rare earth metal extraction and plastic manufacturing that consume resources and create waste. Console production and operation consume significant electricity—estimated at 3.9 TWh per year in the US—and generate about 1.6 million metric tons CO2e. Television electricity use further increases total gaming emissions.

Read at GameSpot