iam8bit breaks down their eco-focused edition of Untitled Goose Game, 'the best, most environmentally-friendly box'. Should it set a standard?

[Maxime]

https://twitter.com/iam8bit/status/1290751289966489600​

The ecological impact of video game is something already often discussed, and some companies seem keen to work toward being as eco-friendly as possible. In that light, this iam8bit twitter thread shows a nice way to tackle those nasty plastic boxes and make something with a lesser footprint, and also nicer to have on a shelf (IMO).

Alternatively, I am basically full digital nowadays but having nice packaging that goes beyond a plastic box and a disc is a nice way to bring some interest back into physical (to me, at least).

Thoughts?

Full thread:

As you may know, we recently revealed the first-ever official eco-focused PS4 game package with the "Lovely Edition" of Untitled Goose Game. iam8bit secretly spent the last year iterating toward the best, most environmentally-friendly box...

...and our pals at Sony gave it the thumbs up! How'd the process work? We wanted to go into a little more detail. For the PS4 box's outer packaging, we ditched plastic entirely. We're using 100% post-consumer, recycled material with heavy duty 20-pt stock and no harmful inks.

Our goal was to find the right balance to ensure this feels sturdy and fits on your shelf with the rest of your collection. We promise it passes the "squeeze test."

The box comes wrapped in Biolefin, which sounds like an evil cyberpunk corporation but actually is eco-friendly shrinkwrap! You can read more about it here:
https://www.reefrepair.com/education/environment/biolefin/

The pack-ins are made with Forest Stewardship Council-certified (@FSC_IC) paper, meaning the wood comes from only the most well-managed and environmentally responsible forests. The NO GOOSE Sticker is tree-free and made from sugar cane waste. Sounds tasty but don't eat it plz.

We see this box as an important first step toward eliminating the use of environmentally-harmful materials in game cases. Our hearts are in this, so if you wanna talk about the pursuit of planet-friendly packaging, drop us a line. Let's spread the word!

And, of course, you can pick up the Lovely Edition of Untitled Goose Game, along with the equally environmentally-friendly vinyl soundtrack, over on our website: http://bit.ly/UGG8bit

Click to shrink...

HONK! HONK! if old.

 

[Deleted member 420]

That looks awesome

 

[PlayBee]

Hope it doesn't come smashed like all my cardboard boxed special editions from Amazon and Best Buy do

 

[SanTheSly]

I'm all for innovation in making packaging more eco friendly but isn't going from completely digital -> ANY form of physical version always going to be less environmentally friendly?

They had the best solution at the start: digital only.

 

[EvilBoris]

It's nice n all, but ultimately isn't this simply greenwashing the glaringly obvious: that this game doesn't need to physically exist at all. The energy and waste in producing all of those materials significantly outweighs it simply not existing.

 

[J_ToSaveTheDay]

I love it. Plastic shell cases have looked gaudy to me for ages — I personally even just find this box design more aesthetically pleasing in addition to the promise of being more environmentally friendly!

EDIT: but I'm still all digital going forward

 

[platocplx]

If there is one thing about going digital it's the reduced plastic waste. PS5 will be my last disc console.

 

[ItchyTasty]

Plastic boxes must die so if people feel the need for a physical copy then this is a good alternative, though at this point it's better to just go digital and waste no material

 

[Rotobit]

If there's an audience for physical, and there will be for at least a few years if not indefinitely, it's absolutely worth making the push for these kinds of boxes over plastic. Still kinda miffed Sony and Microsoft didn't finally make the switch.

I kinda wish these eco boxes would be thinner though, I get that folks want them to match the rest of their collection but I'd love some sleek sleeve-style boxes

 

[Red]

I don't know that this exact design should be standard, but the push to make game production environmentally friendly is something that needs to happen in 20 years ago.

 

[SixelAlexiS]

It's nice n all, but ultimately isn't this simply greenwashing the glaringly obvious: that this game doesn't need to physically exist at all. The energy and waste in producing all of those materials significantly outweighs it simply not existing.

Click to shrink...

This, is just marketing to sell you this thing with a nice story behind.

 

[Poison Jam]

Reminds me of the cardboard case the collectors edition of The Last of Us for PS3 came in.

 

[ParanormalFupa]

Fuck plastic.

 

[Deleted member 18021]

If you're going to do a physical edition, as games and other media will continue to come to for the foreseeable future, then yes, it is indeed worthwhile to improve it where you can.

 

[jett]

Neat, yet...

It's nice n all, but ultimately isn't this simply greenwashing the glaringly obvious: that this game doesn't need to physically exist at all. The energy and waste in producing all of those materials significantly outweighs it simply not existing.

Click to shrink...

Indeed.

 

[Deleted member 10795]

Football Manager also did this last year;

Football Manager 2020 introduces new "eco-friendly" box

The latest footie management sim is switching to a new "eco-friendly" box and "throwing down the gauntlet" to the indus…

www.google.co.uk

It is the right move for physical editions.

 

[J-Skee]

Damn, why is everyone so cynical about this? This could help pave the way for major publishers to start doing this. If you like buying physical, this is good.

 

[degauss]

Have been fully digital since PS4. I don't know in reality if shooting all your game data down from data centres is as environmentally less impacting than buying them in boxes, but intuitively it seems like it theoretically should be? Less plastic/waste?

But yeah, 8 years of this, and I honestly look at game boxes like Vinyl or something now. Actually, even worse, as Vinyl at least has some aesthetic qualities if you are into that kind of clutter.

 

[Game Fan]

Plastic was never an option.

 

[dock]

Relatedly, how eco-friendly is it for people to make multi disc vinyl music, when most of the buyers can listen to FLAC or similar?

 

[AniHawk]

this was a request from house house. they didn't want a physical version of the game unless they could make it out of eco-friendly materials. good on iam8bit for finding the way.

 

[tommyv2]

This is terrible. No one has ever thrown away a special, collector's edition of anything, ever. This will never end up in any landfill.

 

[Lys Skygge]

Paper boxes > plastic boxes.

My David Fincher collectors edition Blu-ray's look great on my shelf.

 

[takoyaki]

This is a well-intentioned move for sure.

But the people who will go for this more expensive limited edition over the regular physical edition from Amazon are mostly collectors, the same people who will put this eco-friendly box into a protective plastic case for preservation.

Now, if the big 3 would switch to a version of this packaging for next gen games that uses less plastic while still being sturdier than the old N64/SNES/GB boxes, then I'm all for it.

 

[gazoinks]

Yeah, if we're gonna keep making physical games then we absolutely should go out of our way to make it as sustainable as possible.

I'm all for innovation in making packaging more eco friendly but isn't going from completely digital -> ANY form of physical version always going to be less environmentally friendly?

They had the best solution at the start: digital only.

Click to shrink...

There's a decent amount of research that digital has a pretty substantial environmental impact, we just don't think about it because it's not as immediately visible. Now as far as whether or not something like this is more or less eco-friendly than digital I don't really know, but digital itself isn't purely eco-friendly.

This is terrible. No one has ever thrown away a special, collector's edition of anything, ever. This will never end up in any landfill.

Click to shrink...

What about when the person dies?

 

[dancingphlower]

I kinda like it, it's like when CDs moved towards digipaks instead of jewel cases although that wasn't an industry wide transition either...

 

[mockingbird]

You know what's even more eco-friendly? Buying it digitally.

 

[ItchyTasty]

Damn, why is everyone so cynical about this? This could help pave the way for major publishers to start doing this. If you like buying physical, this is good.

Click to shrink...

It feels like this is somehow a bigger offense than mass-produced plastic covers to some people just because it's deemed corporate greenwashing. It's not as good as digital but it's better than what it could've been.

 

[Amnixia]

It's nice n all, but ultimately isn't this simply greenwashing the glaringly obvious: that this game doesn't need to physically exist at all. The energy and waste in producing all of those materials significantly outweighs it simply not existing.

Click to shrink...

^ kinda agreed.

 

[justiceiro]

I just hope sets a standard for the publisher going forward.

 

[Phellps]

That's nice. This is better than plastic boxes, but ideally, no game would ever be physically released.

 

[Chocobo115]

Whilst the goal is admireable and I'm all for making more ecofriendly cases, I'm not sure if I like having the disc in a slipcase. Always hate when discs are stored like that, feels like i'm going to scratch the disc every time Itake it out.
Hope they cand find an eco friendly spindle solution later on.

 

[Rotobit]

This is a well-intentioned move for sure.

But the people who will go for this more expensive limited edition over the regular physical edition from Amazon are mostly collectors, the same people who will put this eco-friendly box into a protective plastic case for preservation.

Now, if the big 3 would switch to a version of this packaging for next gen games that uses less plastic while still being sturdier than the old N64/SNES/GB boxes, then I'm all for it.

Click to shrink...

I think the goal for initiatives like this is to show that it's an extremely doable shift for the major manufacturers to make. Leading by example and shaming them into responding, essentially.

I think EA is the company that needs to push for it the most - they make multiple yearly sports titles that are by their very nature expendable. Imagine how much plastic waste would be avoided if Madden, FIFA, etc. hit store shelves in cardboard sleeves?

 

[SanTheSly]

There's a decent amount of research that digital has a pretty substantial environmental impact, we just don't think about it because it's not as immediately visible. Now as far as whether or not something like this is more or less eco-friendly than digital I don't really know, but digital itself isn't purely eco-friendly.

Click to shrink...

I mean, I never said digital was 100% environmentally friendly either. Nothing is. Even ride-sharing or public transport still has an environmental impact.

But digital only is still going to be miles better on the consumer end than any physical product. Of course storefront server power consumption is a concern but there's only so much an individual can do about that anyway.

On the consumer end, your console is using power regardless of digital or physical. Physical probably uses more power because of the necessary components used in reading discs. Plus the environmental cost of producing the packaging the game came in.

As I said, I'm all for innovation in making physical packaging more sustainable, but creating ANY physical version of a game that was previously digital only seems like it's completely missing the point.

 

[gazoinks]

I mean, I never said digital was 100% environmentally friendly either. Nothing is. Even ride-sharing or public transport still has an environmental impact.

But digital only is still going to be miles better on the consumer end than any physical product. Of course storefront server power consumption is a concern but there's only so much an individual can do about that anyway.

On the consumer end, your console is using power regardless of digital or physical. Physical probably uses more power because of the necessary components used in reading discs. Plus the environmental cost of producing the packaging the game came in.

As I said, I'm all for innovation in making physical packaging more sustainable, but creating ANY physical version of a game that was previously digital only seems like it's completely missing the point.

Click to shrink...

I think I misread your original post slightly, so yeah 100% haha.

 

[Jimnymebob]

This is a good idea, but it'll be kinda redundant if they're just gonna waste so much energy on making these and they'll never be used again outside of other games they are releasing which already have digital releases.
If all 3 consoles as well as DVD and Blu-Rays swap to this universally then that'll be great, but I don't see that happening.

 

[Wispmetas]

It's nice n all, but ultimately isn't this simply greenwashing the glaringly obvious: that this game doesn't need to physically exist at all. The energy and waste in producing all of those materials significantly outweighs it simply not existing.

Click to shrink...

One and done.

 

[sir_crocodile]

certainly more environmentally friendly then their snes games that could set your console on fire

 

[takoyaki]

I think the goal for initiatives like this is to show that it's an extremely doable shift for the major manufacturers to make. Leading by example and shaming them into responding, essentially.

I think EA is the company that needs to push for it the most - they make multiple yearly sports titles that are by their very nature expendable. Imagine how much plastic waste would be avoided if Madden, FIFA, etc. hit store shelves in cardboard sleeves?

Click to shrink...

Oh absolutely, and it would be great if this leads to some rethinking on the part of Sony, MS and Nintendo.

I doubt the Goose Game method would be scaleable to 100s of millions of boxes, but Nintendo went to cutouts in their packaging during the DS->3DS transition and Xbox 360/Wii cases had cutouts as well for a little while. I'm sure all three of them could find more creative solutions like that to further reduce the use of plastic.

The Goose Game box is cool, but I get why some are so cynical about it. The message would be more consistent if they didn't also release a plastic box version for Switch on iam8bit and standard editions for both PS4 & NSW you can buy from Amazon etc. They could have used this as an opportunity to shame Nintendo for going back to no cutouts in their Switch packaging and apparently not allowing them to do a similar Eco Edition on iam8bit without the plastic box.

edit: added a link to the Xbox & Wii cases I was talking about, they are called "Eco-Boxes"

 

[KastuśKalinoŭski]

iam8bit "invented" digipak

 

[Oldmario]

hopefully if these things become more common they give us the option to choose, anytime i've bought a blu-ray with the crappy cardboard case packaging i've had atleast a couple discs scratched in the pack so i'll be sticking to the regular amaray case

 

[Ferrs]

You know what's even more eco-friendly? Buying it digitally.

Click to shrink...

You know how to make people move to digital? put sensible prices comparable to phyisical.

Until publishers stop wanting to have their cake and eat it and putting crazy prices on launch games and old games that never drop on price except in sales, this is a good solution.

 

[AuthenticM]

I had no idea that there was such a thing as the Forest Stewardship Council. That's amazing.

 

[Deleted member 8752]

It's nice n all, but ultimately isn't this simply greenwashing the glaringly obvious: that this game doesn't need to physically exist at all. The energy and waste in producing all of those materials significantly outweighs it simply not existing.

Click to shrink...

None of our games need to exist. Physical media, itself, doesn't need to exist anymore. But here we are.

 

[Billfisto]

I like the concept, but I have two issues:

1. I hate cardboard against the surface of the disc. I'm not sure if it's as bad as it was with CDs/DVD, but all my stuff got scratched.
2. Shipping companies really need to get their stuff together. Half my stuff arrives with dings or dents in it because bubble mailers are insufficient and shippers don't seem like they take the most care.

Right now I'm digital on PS4 and physical on Switch, purely because I love the solidity and lasting nature of cartridges in cases (and the Switch's storage and account system sucks). I'll just stick with that until Nintendo gets their act together.

 

[Fularu]

Thread of eco friendly initiative within the physical release sphere gets shat on by digital only advocates.

You guys know you can ignore threads you have no interest in right? I don't go into every digital only title thread to complain about digital rights management and actual ownership of goods and contents.

 

[nib95]

This is very cool. As someone who still invests in physical games due to sales, trading, lending, borrowing etc, I'd be cool with this. It's a great halfway house between sustainability and retaining more consumer friendly ownership and resale options with physical games.

 

[Chadtwo]

It's nice n all, but ultimately isn't this simply greenwashing the glaringly obvious: that this game doesn't need to physically exist at all. The energy and waste in producing all of those materials significantly outweighs it simply not existing.

Click to shrink...

This is my thought. Seems silly to tout environmentalism by making an eco friendly package when you could also just go completely digital

 

[Protome]

I like the concept, but I have two issues:

1. I hate cardboard against the surface of the disc. I'm not sure if it's as bad as it was with CDs/DVD, but all my stuff got scratched.

Click to shrink...

Blu Rays are really tough to scratch. Not impossible, but cardboard ain't gonna do it.

 

[Shin-Ra]

If you download all your games you either need several high capacity HDD's (I'll let you research the parts contained in specific drives) or repeatedly download the same games from a remote server which involves a whole chain of computer devices working harder as more people do this with more games.