Designing for a Cooler Planet: How Katoa: Oceans is Driving Sustainable Game Development

Contributors: Nigel A. Franks (Snowed In Studios), Elliot Stevens (VOLTA), and Chuck Byas (Liquid Development).

The panel at XDS 2025, hosted by Caroline Calaway of Calaway Consulting and Sankari Studios, brought together the creators of Katoa: Oceans alongside the development partners who helped bring the project to life, including Snowed In Studios, VOLTA, and Liquid Development.

As part of the Keywords Studios group, Snowed In, VOLTA and Liquid Development bring together world-class creative production expertise to drive innovation in game development.

Katoa: Oceans is more than just a beautifully crafted environmental stewardship game. In this ambitious title, player accomplishments trigger real-world donations to environmental NGOs - perfectly aligned with the tagline: Play the game, save the world.

Sankari’s Origin Story

Founded by veterans behind major franchises like Call of Duty and James Bond, Sankari Studios was born from a shared desire to make games that have a positive impact on the planet.

The team envisioned Katoa: Oceans not only as a compelling gameplay experience but as a platform where in-game achievements translate into real-world action. To achieve this ambitious goal, Sankari knew they needed experienced partners to help bring their vision to life - and that’s when they reached out to Keywords Studios.

A Partnership Built on Purpose

From the very first conversations, the alignment between Sankari and Snowed In Studios was clear. As development ramped up, Snowed In brought in VOLTA and Liquid Development to collaborate, forming a multi-studio partnership united by a shared commitment to environmental stewardship and sustainability.

This wasn’t just a collaboration; it felt like a single, integrated team. For many of VOLTA’s artists, the project was deeply personal - some came from coastal regions directly impacted by pollution and habitat loss. That passion fueled the creative process, shaping the vivid environments and rich visual identity of Katoa: Oceans.

By combining our strengths, we were able to create an experience that’s visually stunning, emotionally resonant, and purpose-driven - proof that games can be a powerful force for environmental change.

The Challenges of Sustainable Game Development

The project began at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, a time when investment in games was booming and conversations around ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) and DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) were becoming central to many studios’ missions.

But while the ambition for Katoa: Oceans was clear, sustainability in game development isn’t simple. Some of the key challenges we faced included:

• Energy sourcing – How can studios ensure that the systems powering builds and rendering are run on sustainable energy?
• Hardware and production – Is it possible to source developer hardware that’s manufactured and shipped with sustainability in mind?
• Defining consumption – What does energy consumption look like in game development, and how can we meaningfully reduce it?
• Operational realities – How do we influence landlords, partners, and vendors to invest in renewable energy infrastructure?

What became clear is that there are no easy answers. True sustainability requires dedicated planning, new processes, and ongoing investment - but the industry-wide conversation has started, and Katoa: Oceans has helped accelerate it.