Sega has announced that it will replace the packaging of its PC software releases in Europe with recyclable cardboard.

The first game to be released after this announcement is the three-disc "Total War: Rome 2 - Enemy at the Gates Edition," a re-release of "Total War: Rome 2," but the move was made at the urging of "Football Manager 2020" developer This move was made at the urging of Sports Interactive, the developer of Football Manager 2020.

The process of convincing Sega to produce an environmentally friendly game box is detailed in a particularly interesting video in which People Make Games spoke with Sports Interactive studio head Miles Jacobson. The design process for the box took about six months, and before he approached Sega with the idea, he had already factored into the studio's budget the additional 22 cents it would cost to produce the box compared to a standard plastic box.

Everything except the disc itself is made from 100% recyclable and biodegradable materials. Even the inks used to print the disc boxes and labels are made from 100% vegetable and starchy materials.

Of course, the discs used by Sega are still plastic and cannot be recycled in the same way. Biodegradable Blu-ray discs have existed since around 2004, but they never really took off. Furthermore, since PC games can generally be registered using only a serial code, is a disc really necessary?

At this time, this development only applies to games released by Sega Europe for the PC; People Make Games has stated that Sega plans to do this for both the entire Western and Japanese markets.

Frankly, I don't know why publishers didn't adopt biodegradable packaging sooner. Incorporating environmentally friendly practices is almost always guaranteed to be good PR, and on a more cynical level, the fact that the boxes will decompose over time seems like a great way to throw a wrench into the used market.

Games like "Rome 2" need to be reused on Steam before they can be played, even on physical discs. This is a great move by Sega and I sincerely hope other publishers follow suit.