Peter Suciu

Will Games Go Green?
April 14, 2008

With Earth Day a week away, a lot of attention is being directed toward the “green movement,” and a lot of reporters (including me) are using tired headlines such as “Not Easy Being Green,” and “Green Sees Growth.” This time I’ve looked at the issue of whether the electronic entertainment industry can ever go green — or at least get greener. The answer is yes and no. 

Earlier this year at International CES in Las Vegas, I attended the Keeping CE off the Curb SuperSession, moderated by Brian Taylor, editor in chief of Recycling Today, which I covered for TWICE. The panel addressed concerns that the CE industry might face mandatory recycling fees and new programs being implemented across the country. Over the hour-long session much was talked about, specifically on efforts the CE industry is making in recycling; while we still have a long way to go, progress is happening. 

One product category is regularly recycled, and it is actually the product that has the most potential for growth in the video game sector. It is, of course, the mobile phone. As I reported earlier this year, Jeff Zeigler, CEO of TechTurn, a technology recycling company, said, “The wireless carrier, the retailer and the OEM all want your phone back.” 

This is good news, and a good step forward. Or rather it would be. Unfortunately all the news isn’t as good as Zeigler made it sound. According to a recent iSuppli report, only about 5.7 percent of mobile phones were returned to retail in 2007, and that more than one-third of the handsets, 36.8 percent, were simply “stored away” and could just be “collecting dust in closets.” More disturbing was that 10.2 percent of U.S. consumers surveyed admitted the phones were simply discarded, either thrown away or stolen in Q4. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency actually estimates that Americans discard 125 million phones each year, creating 65,000 tons of waste. 

The Keeping CE off the Curb session did address a few other points that are also worth considering, notably that some devices are used until they no longer function. This is very true of video game consoles, where there is still a thriving market for old systems, old game cartridges and CD-ROMs, and even the various controllers and peripherals. In fact, this is one sector of the consumer electronics industry where even a broken device might be worth more than any value it has in raw-material recycling. Old game systems that no longer function are regularly cannibalized for parts. 

Collectors of these old systems have created a retro game movement, which today includes conventions such as the Classic Game Expo. This is, of course, only a small step in keeping games and game systems out of landfills, and sadly when a system does die it is probably simply thrown away rather than recycled. 

Even computers are generally upgraded by gamers, rather than replaced. This is due in small part because specialized gaming PCs can cost several hundred, or even a couple thousand, dollars more than a generic office PC these days. But this brings up another point, and this where the video game industry will never be entirely green. 

The move forward to faster, better and improved means that today’s PC is once again feeling like yesterday’s technology all too quickly. Recycling of materials from key components, including video cards and motherboards, remains expensive. It isn’t worth the effort to reclaim these parts, and there is still very little secondary market for older gaming PCs and equipment. 

And while today’s machines have improved on the performance side, and most flat-panel monitors use less energy than the bulky CRT monitors, we’re still only making small steps. Even if the average home user can reduce energy consumption, a walk through the halls of a trade show such as the Electronic Entertainment Expo or the Game Developers Conference — with amped-up volumes and rows and rows of monitors — proves that this industry doesn’t really know how to think green. 

Posted by Peter Suciu on April 14, 2008 | Comments (1)