“If I have an AMD Ryzen 5 processor in my bike, it’s not at all the same as if I have a Ryzen 9! How do we tell the difference? » Questions from experts abounded on Tuesday, December 12, in one of the Cargo conference rooms in Paris. That day, Geoffrey Marmonier presented Jyros, a carbon footprint calculator designed specifically to measure the environmental impact of video game development.
In front of him, five French studio managers who came to familiarize themselves with a tool which should soon be essential to their industry. Developed at the initiative of regional associations of video game companies and the two employers’ organizations in the sector, the National Video Game Union (SNJV) and the Union of Leisure Software Publishers, Jyros was revealed in mid-Octoberjust seven months after entering development.
“Eco-conditionality of aid”
A schedule somewhat precipitated by a deadline which concerns many players in French video games. The National Center for Cinema and Animated Images (CNC) has indeed announced the imminent “eco-conditionality of aid” granted to the sector: unless it includes a carbon footprint in its application, a company will soon no longer be able to claim the financial support represented by the Video Game Assistance Fund.
While a similar measure must come into force on 1er January 2024 for live-action works (fiction films, series, documentaries, etc.), the CNC has not yet communicated a precise date to video game studios. However, the public establishment considers from the World that they should be concerned “in the coming months”. No time to waste, then. “The CNC approval process for Jyros should begin in January”, announces Geoffrey Marmonier. For several weeks, the person running the project has been traveling to meet studios to provide paid training on how to use the calculator.
Matthieu Schneider, director of publication and studios at Fabloo Games, present at the Parisian training for “better understand the process that will be put in place for aid”, intends to seize it in the future. The latest news is that only a tenth of French studios have carried out a carbon footprint, according to the 2023 SNJV barometer.
To ensure that they get more involved, Geoffrey Marmonier called on twenty-seven “pilot” companies, responsible for putting Jyros to the test, designed in the form of a questionnaire, with concrete data. “It was an opportunity to participate in the development of a tool that is the same for everyone and to access a network of decision-makers to collectively learn how to do better”comments Judith Tripard, human resources manager at mobile game studio Oh Bibi.
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