Sony: Playing on a PlayStation is less harmful to the environment than going to the movies

 Sony has released a new report on its initiative to reduce carbon emissions through the use of their products.

Sony pledged to be a more environmentally conscious company last year, along with a bunch of other companies in the IT sector. They promised so that the PS5 console will consume less power at rest, and this year they decided to point out that their approach in the video game industry is not as harmful to our planet as other approaches to other platforms.

Namely, according to Sony's research, downloading a digital game on the PlayStation 4 results in an average emission of 0.0047 kilograms of carbon dioxide per hour, which is almost half less than downloading digital games on the PC platform. Furthermore, Sony claims that downloading games is better for the planet than streaming games via platforms like Stadia, Luna or GeForce Now, because streaming games per hour results in the emission of 0.149 kilograms of carbon dioxide.

However, this is only a partial picture because streaming is less harmful to the planet than downloading when it comes to playing games that last up to eight hours. In this scenario, downloading games can leave a larger carbon footprint than a regular download. But it is interesting to compare carbon dioxide emissions with going to the cinema, for example. According to a 2012 study, Sony claims that going to the cinema results in 50 times more carbon dioxide emissions than downloading a game on a PS4 console. Of course, this means that you go to the cinema with some form of fuel transport. But even that is debatable because in 2012 there were not as many electric vehicles in circulation as today.

Sony presents the data here in a directed way to turn it out in a nicer light. Indeed, it’s nice to know that the PlayStation 5 will consume about 70% less power in sleep mode. However, you won't save anything by doing this, because the console will consume significantly more power during operation than the standard PlayStation 4 and even the PlayStation 4 Pro console, which is a fact that Sony will be happy to keep silent in such reports.