Carbon Counts is a newly announced studio run by former Disney, EA, and Kaban devs with the goal of "[taking] on climate change using the power of play, people and technology." It has just announced a new mobile game EverForest that will plant real trees as you progress.
As reported by GamesIndustry.biz, Carbon Counts formed back in 2020 but kept under the radar until its big announcement this week. Its first game is a story-based mobile title that is taking its goal of combatting climate change and giving players the tools to join in. Carbon Counts managed to raise $4.5 million to fund EverForest, with a goal of using the game to plant 100 million trees by 2025.
"Worldwide, the vast majority of people care deeply about climate change, but feel powerless to do anything about it," co-founder and CEO Michael Libenson said. "At Carbon Counts, we are harnessing the power of play to enable each person to make a small difference such that in aggregate we all can create transformative impact. Our team has created some of the world's most successful mobile games. Now, we're combining proven mechanics with an immersive story to deliver a magical experience that transcends the screen and impacts the real world."
Aside from Libenson, Rare co-founder Brett Jenks helped to co-found the studio, while Disney corporate citizenship leader Nicole Rustad is COO and Plants vs. Zombies co-creator Kyle Duncan is executive producer. The team split off from Disney, EA, and Kabam to form its own studio focused primarily on fighting climate change, something that's refreshing to see as many other game studios throw their hats into the NFT ring.
NFTs use cryptocurrency and blockchain tech which is incredibly harmful to the environment due to their energy usage, but EverForest is a step away from this growing trend in an attempt to do something more environmentally friendly. Sony, who has not taken part in NFTs as of yet, recently did something similar by running a nature campaign for Horizon Forbidden West. Perhaps with Sony and other big industry names making a push, we'll see even more follow suit.