This paper discusses the environmental implications of cloud gaming and the
sustainability strategies employed by infrastructure providers underpinning this
gaming model. At present-day, such an analysis needs to recognise the
increasing presence of other agents from the ICT sector in the gaming ecosystem
in specific, and the digital entertainment economy at large. To understand the
inherent infrastructural and environmental challenges to operationalise cloud
gaming in this setting, the paper examines the intricate geo-distributed
architecture required to offer the real-time experience of gaming through cloud
based services, while observing the growing concerns with the resource
consumption associated with cloud platforms. As a result, the analysis unfurls
the prevailing adoption of energy efficiency and carbon offsetting strategies by
cloud infrastructure providers. Under environmental compensation methods,
heat dissipation and water excess are not merely emblems of an accursed climatic
share, but also valuable assets for trade. The paper highlights the significance of
taking a step back to re-evaluate discourses on gaming and sustainability, to
observe more closely how the environmental problems associated to the industry
take shape under a cloud-based platform model.
Keywords (eng)
gaming-as-a-servicemedia infrastructurecloud gamingsustainability imageryenvironmental media