Loyola University Chicago

At the Crossroads of Game Studies and Business Ethics: Sustainability Obligations

This paper examines the sustainability obligations of stakeholders in the video game industry, arguing that the industry has made comparatively little systematic progress on sustainability and corporate social responsibility since scholars first raised these concerns.

• The paper argues the video game industry has made comparatively little systematic progress on sustainability and corporate social responsibility since scholars first raised these concerns.
• The authors frame sustainability across three pillars: economic (market disruption among shareholder-driven triple-A publishers, acquisitions and closures of mid-sized developers, and independent developers struggling for visibility), social (crunch, unionization conflicts, indie self-exploitation, and gaps in diversity, equity, and inclusion), and environmental.
• Mobile models built on user data extraction, big-spender dependence, and free-to-play loot boxes and gacha mechanics that approach gambling are flagged as ethically and regulatorily contentious.