The Playing for the Planet Alliance has announced the winners of the third edition of the Green Game Jam, with mobile games taking home five of the eight awards.
Hay Day, which recently celebrated its tenth anniversary, was the big winner, taking home the awards for both UNEP Choice and Best in Food awards. The game recently held the Global Truck Event, through which it donated to the Rodale Institute – a non-profit which trains new farmers in regenerative farming practices. As a result of the event, developers Supercell have created an estimated 3,000 acres of farmland used to generate healthy and organic food.
Terragenesis took home the Participant’s Choice award. Through a partnership with Ecologi, Terragenesis are matching in-game planting efforts by planting trees in real life.
June’s Journey and Brawlhalla also celebrated
Brawlhalla won the Most Adoptable award. The developers will feature a tree-themed in-game charity item designed for the Brawlhalla World Tree Initiative, with all proceeds earned from sales of the item being donated to Ecologi. The developers will also be hosting a 12-hour stream focused on raising and driving further donations, with all proceeds going to charity.
Hidden item game, June’s Journey, is repeating an event from 2021, which saw 2,500 trees planted in collaboration with Ecosia, and developer Wooga hopes to plant 200,000 trees this year. The game’s community is also invited to participate in a forest-themed quiz to earn in-game bonuses, as well as encouraging players to download the Ecosia search engine, which helps plant trees with every search.
The Green Game Jam comes as both players and developers are becoming more concerned with environmental issues such as deforestation, climate change, and pollution. Gamigo Group have planted over 110,000 trees in reforestation efforts as of February 3 2022, and companies such as Tencent and Razer are working towards the goal of being carbon neutral by 2030.