Empowering Youth: Reliance Games Teams Up with UNEP for Plastic Challenge
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India – In commemoration of World Environment Day, Reliance Games proudly announces a unique green initiative to raise awareness about the hazards of plastic among children and youth. Building upon the tremendous success of campaigns over the past two years, which reached over 15 million youth and inspired the collection of 500 million+ virtual plastic bottles, the studio is aiming for a hat-trick this year. Expanding its efforts to support the UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Tide Turners Plastic Challenge for World Environment Day, Reliance Games continues to champion eco-consciousness and combat plastic pollution.
This global initiative engages youth in addressing the urgent issue of plastic pollution, which poses a threat to life in oceans, rivers, and land. Notably, Reliance Games has incorporated the issue of plastic pollution into 4 of their popular games, Little Singham, Little Singham Cycle Race, Little Singham Super Skater, and Kicko and Super Speedo, all designed to educate and entertain players and published under Zapak Games.
As part of its continued collaboration with UNEP for the third year in a row, Reliance Games expands its program with four of its fan-favourite titles, boasting an impressive 100 Million + downloads. These games embark on a new campaign to educate players about the detrimental impact of plastic pollution.
The in-game activation is part of Reliance Games’ support of Playing for the Planet (www.playing4theplanet.org), an initiative facilitated by UNEP which works with the games industry to decarbonize the industry and test green activations in games.
Through inventive gameplay mechanics, players actively collect virtual plastic bottles and prohibited plastic items, reinforcing the significance of reducing, reusing, and recycling plastics. All 4 games prominently feature the World Environment Day integration and messaging, underscoring their commitment to global environmental preservation.
The Tide Turners youth program, backed by the worldwide Scout and Girl Guide movement, engages an impressive count of 500,000 youth across more than 30 countries.
Sam Barratt, Chief of Youth, Education and Advocacy who oversaw the Tide Turners and the Playing for the Planet initiative at UNEP, emphasized the importance of raising awareness among young people, stating: “At UNEP, we have been impressed to see the integration of the plastic theme in the Little Singham mobile games over the past 2 years that saw some 500 million virtual plastic bottles collected in the games. Educating people about what actions we can all take to change our relationship with plastics is an important first step. This year, it’s good to see that Reliance Games are raising the bar by leveraging the power of four of their games to reach out to the youth. We need more games like these serving to educate and inspire more young individuals to become environmental advocates and help us to Beat Plastic Pollution.”
“At Reliance Games, we are deeply committed to supporting green initiatives and fostering environmental awareness among our young players. Through our work with UNEP and the integration of plastic pollution themes in our popular games, we aim to inspire a new generation to take action against plastic waste. We are proud to strengthen our relationship with UNEP’s Playing for the Planet initiative, and our partners, Warner Bros Discovery and Sony Pictures Network India, in raising awareness about plastic pollution. Our goal is to reach 150 million runs and 50 billboards per game, maximizing our exposure to spread the message. This year, our collaboration aligns with the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan, enabling us to reach children and young adults who love playing games and are fans of popular IPs like Little Singham and Kicko and Super Speedo. Through our games, we deliver a crucial message that resonates deeply,” said Amit Khanduja, CEO of Reliance Entertainment – Digital.
This collaboration is part of the Playing for the Planet initiative, launched by UNEP in September 2019 at the UN Climate Summit. The initiative aims to mobilize the gaming industry to create awareness about pressing environmental issues. Reliance Games/Zapak, alongside Sony, Microsoft, Ubisoft, and Supercell, stands as one of the founding members of this ground-breaking movement.
About Reliance Games
Reliance Games is India’s leading Gaming Destination with more than 500 million game downloads. Reliance Games and Zapak work closely with leading Entertainment companies such as WWE, Cartoon Network, Paramount, Warner Bros Discovery, Sony Pictures Networks India, etc. From famous games like American Dad! Apocalypse Soon, WWE Mayhem, World Robot Boxing, T20 Cricket, to Blockbuster TV Series running games Little Singham, Little Krishna, Kicko and Super Speedo & many others, Zapak Players from all over the world experience endless excitement, achieve amazing high scores, challenge friends & compete in one of India’s biggest games collections. Reliance Games and Zapak are the division of Reliance Entertainment Digital.
About Reliance Entertainment
Reliance Entertainment is one of India’s largest content studios, having produced and distributed more than 400 films that have grossed over $1 billion at the global box office. As a vertically integrated media company focused on India, the fifth largest media and entertainment market globally according to FICCI & EY, Reliance has proprietary new media assets across animation and gaming, which monetize the\ Company’s proprietary film IP library across new media platforms. Reliance invests in film production companies and intellectual property, maintaining a rich content portfolio across multiple Indian languages and relationships for digital distribution with Netflix, Amazon, Disney+Hotstar and other platforms. Reliance films have won 29 national awards since 2008, and the Company works with some of the most prominent directors and stars in India.
