Sony has announced a unique and wholesome campaign surrounding Horizon Forbidden West that will see the gaming company plant trees in real life to help with reforestation projects around the US.
The campaign is called Play and Plant. For every instance that players unlock the “Reached the Daunt” Trophy in the game by March 25, Sony will plant a tree to help save the planet. This Trophy is unlocked very early in the game, so hopefully–for the sake of the planet and reforestation efforts–Sony quickly reaches the cap of the 288,000 trees that are needed for this campaign.
“For the release of Horizon Forbidden West, we want to do something to help nature… with you. Just like how Aloy fights to save the Earth in the game, we can do something together to help our planet,” Sony said.
This is being done to support the Arbor Day Foundation and the UN’s Play4Forests campaign, which uses gaming endeavors to raise awareness about saving forests and climate issues.
The trees will be planted at three different sites in the US, including the Douglass Country Forest in Wisconsin, the Sheep Fire Private Lands in California, and the Torreya State Park in Florida. The Sheep Fire in 2020 burned more than 30,000 acres, making reforestation of particular significance and importance. In particular, grey wolves have begun to return to the region after being hunted extensively–they need large landscapes of healthy ecosystems to thrive, and more trees are necessary for that.
The Douglass County Forest needs more trees to help with preserving rare wildlife and plant species, while the Torreya State Park has seen its longleaf pine population negatively impacted by natural disasters and deforestation.
In other news about video games and wildlife, billionaire Epic Games founder Tim Sweeney has spent millions acquiring and donating land in his home state of North Carolina for conservation efforts.
For more, check out GameSpot’s Horizon Forbidden West review and what other critics think.
Source: Gamespot
