League of Legends has been named the least eco-friendly video game over the last year, with the game producing 58,379 tonnes of CO2, a new study reveals.
Green Gaming analyses games console power usage, along with player counts, platform compatibility and completion times behind some of the most popular games, to reveal which titles and devices have resulted in the highest carbon footprint over the last year.
League of Legends – a team-based game with over 140 champions – has risen in popularity over the last decade, and continues to be one of the most-played online games.
According to available data on player counts, there are an estimated 2.3 million players on League at any one time, while based on completion times reported on HowLongToBeat, each player spends an average of 1,088 hours on the popular multiplayer platform.
With the kWh and resulting footprint of the typical PC in mind (0.023kg of CO2 per hour) in mind, this player count and completion time equates to 58.4 million kg of CO2e.
In fact, League’s total carbon emissions could be even higher, as this doesn’t take into account those who are spending longer on the game and not reporting it. And with the game constantly evolving with new updates, there’s no likely end to player interaction in sight.
Most polluting video games, based on player count: most to least
- League of Legends (58,379 tonnes of CO2)
- Fortnite (6,425 tonnes of CO2)
- Apex Legends (1,610 tonnes of CO2)
- Call of Duty: Warzone (1,479 tonnes of CO2)
- FIFA 22 (926 tonnes of CO2)
But what about when player counts are removed from the equation? Based solely on the emissions of each platform the titles are available on, the least eco-friendly game per-player was found to be Fortnite, followed by Forza Horizon 5, and FIFA 22.
As well as player counts, the main culprit behind League’s impact comes from the average time spent playing, as Fortnite reported a higher average player count with 2.7 million at any given time – yet the average player spends just 68.5 hours on the game.
And despite League’s footprint, there are plenty of gaming platforms that carry a bigger carbon footprint than PC’s 0.023kg CO2e per hour – with the PlayStation 3 resulting in 0.047kg. This makes it the least eco-friendly gaming device of those analysed in the study.
On the other end of the scale, the most eco-friendly games came out as Resident Evil: Village and Animal Crossing: New Horizons, while the top eco-friendly console was revealed to be the Nintendo Switch (0.003kg of CO2 per hour).
Rogier Beerends, Creative Director at MobileWins, commented on the study, saying:
“It’s interesting to delve into how the gaming habits of players impacts the world around them, particularly when it comes to average completion times, game popularity and console efficiency.
“Although it’s unlikely anyone will alter their playing habits as a result of the findings, it does prompt us to consider the impact of our online consumption on the environment, and – in turn – encourage us to take steps to lower our annual carbon footprint where we can.”
Other key findings included that the most popular video games among Twitter fans are FIFA 22, Final Fantasy XIV and Forza Horizon 5, based on a sentiment analysis, while the Xbox Series X has seen the biggest influx of fan support on Twitter over the last year.
To see the full breakdown of Green Gaming’s results, please visit: https://www.mobilewins.co.uk/green-gaming-carbon-footprint-of-consoles/
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