Gender distribution among gamers is fairly equal between women and men.¹ The distribution in the Swedish games industry is not, with only 21.4% being women in 2021.² Contrary to what the numbers suggest, we think everyone should have equal opportunities to reach positions of influence in the industry.

To make Kinda Brave a more attractive workplace for women, non-binary as well as any other gender or gender expression, we’ve taken steps to become LGBTQI Certified. This is aimed at increasing inclusivity and a sense of safety. We’ve also implemented an anonymous whistleblowing system and are collaborating with DONNA to inspire more women to pursue a career in games.
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¹ Videogames in Europe: Consumer Study, European Summary Report November 2012, Ipsos Media CT

² Dataspelsbranschen spelutvecklarindex 2021, Nyckeltal

Every click. Every line of code. Every gosh darn cup of coffee. Almost everything we do leaves an impact on the planet in the form of greenhouse gas emissions, a so-called carbon footprint. As a business, it can be hard to course-correct a ship that’s been sailing in a certain direction for decades. But it’s easier if you get off on the right foot. Such as picking renewable energy or being choosy with suppliers from the start.

That’s not enough though. The majority of Kinda Brave’s footprint will come from people playing our games across the world. We’re accountable for all emissions whether they’re direct or indirect. To compensate, we’re offsetting. This means calculating our total carbon footprint, measured in CO2e. Then, we contribute a corresponding amount of funding to sustainable projects around the world with a positive impact.

Climate compensation is not a perfect system. Relying too heavily on compensations could be a form of greenwashing. Meaning, posing as more environmentally friendly than you really are. Until we’re able to run our business in a climate neutral way without compensation, there’s always going to be room for us to be better.

In 2021, our group's total carbon footprint measured 90 metric tons and we decided to offset 100 metric tons. For calculations and more in-depth data, see our sustainability report for 2021 here.

This is our Sustainability Officer Georg’s domain. He reigns these vast fields with grace and meticulousness. His testament to the world? The Big and Serious Read – the sustainability report.

Aren’t many companies publishing sustainability reports, though? Yes, in Sweden, it’s even a legal requirement if you reach a certain number of employees or turnover. Thing is, we’re not even close to be legally required to publish a sustainability report. We’re doing it anyways. From our inception and always on the behalf of everyone in our group.

You can find the report for 2021 here.

Even if you manage to ignore the potential social issues, including fraud and Ponzi schemes, our group will not contribute to tech needlessly increasing our carbon footprint. We welcome initiatives to significantly lower the environmental impact of NFTs. But until such solutions have become the norm, our priorities lie elsewhere.

Look, we’re as cynical as we need to be to run a business. If we don’t make money, we can’t finance salary and benefits for our developers. If we don’t make money, we can’t contribute to organisations doing important work. The industry in general wouldn’t be interested in collaborating with us. In short, if we don’t make money, we’d have no impact.

Even so, there are certain things we, as gamers, don’t want in our games. Like loot boxes. In 2018, they were famously banned in Belgium,¹ labelled as an illegal form of gambling. The Public Health Agency in Sweden also stated a correlation between gambling addiction and the inclination to purchase loot boxes.²

There’s much to be said about monetization in gaming. Our view is that most of it can be acceptable, depending on how it’s being used. Loot boxes are, however, not part of how we’re building our business at Kinda Brave.

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¹ Article at Eurogamer

² Agency's page on game addiction

Kinda Brave is collaborating with RFSL to become the world’s first LGBTQI Certified games company. Why? Because gaming and the industry are for everyone. This way, please, to read all about it. Us being first is not the important part here, naturally, but we hope to inspire others by Making It a Thing.

To get certified, 80% of Kinda Brave’s employees must have gone through inclusivity training with RFSL. All current employees at Kinda Brave Publishing are, since February 2022, on a six-month journey to become certified. The management teams of our studios Ember Trail, Dinomite and Tic Tek Toe have also joined in.

When anyone picks up a game from Kinda Brave, we want them to know it’s playable. We’re out to become a trusted publisher among people with disabilities. That’s why we’re appointing Accessibility Champions to Kinda Brave and all our studios. Here, feast your eyes on how we’re approaching it!

In addition to undergoing AbleGamers’ APX Certification, each Accessibility Champion will commit to further training coordinated by the Producer and Head of Game Quality in the publishing team.

A sense of ownership in your workplace is a powerful motivator. All Kinda Brave employees – developers and publishing staff alike – have been given the opportunity to participate in share issues. On terms equal to those of all other investors, no matter the sums involved. We’ll continue this tradition for as long as it’s practically possible.

As of April 2022, current and former employees make up 47% of the total number of shareholders in Kinda Brave Publishing AB. Together with its board of directors, they own a total of 72% of the shares in the company and control an even higher number of votes.

Our industry has struggled with workplace issues for a long time, including discrimination and sexual harassment. To think that we would be spared just because of our stance on sustainability alone could be our biggest mistake. Instead, we try to focus on accountability and tools for employees who despite all our efforts might end up in difficult situations.

While we take numerous preventive measures which we hope will drastically reduce the risk of incidents in our group, including inclusivity training and enlisting experts on harmful substance abuse for policy drafting, we’ve also opted to implement a whistleblowing system via an external third-party security company that guarantees full anonymity. Each whistle comes to the attention of a task force that includes management from HR, finance, sustainability and compliance as well as external board of director representation.

A long day in front of the computer at work is followed up by a night playing games. Sound familiar? To us it does. We admit that few spend more time sitting in front of screens compared to gamers and developers. To lower the number of sick days, increase well-being and level up our employees’ HP, we’ve made some investments.

There’s the annual wellness grant that goes on top of the salary, for use on activities such as gym memberships or massage. Heck, take off on a trusty steed towards the sunset for all we care! As long as your physical well-being benefits from it (and the activity is tax approved). The weekly wellness hour means that employees can even take an hour of worktime per week to do it.

We’re also using a third-party employee wellness system, providing employees with dietary advice, workout exercises and the ability to set up in-office competitions. And, if needed, there’s another grant towards computer glasses from a contracted optician. Because even though we’re trying to mix it up here, we’re still going to spend a lot of time in front of our screens to create and play fantastic games.

Finally, we are working with an expert organisation dedicated to issues surrounding workplace alcohol and substance abuse in order to raise management knowledge levels.

To many, game development is more than a profession – it’s a hobby and a passion. It’s just the nature of it. That’s why all employment contracts in our group guarantee developers the right to run personal game development projects in their spare time. As a matter of fact, we encourage it. We believe it to ultimately benefit the group by generating more inspiration and know-how. What a developer makes in their free time, unrelated to work, is theirs and theirs alone.

And if a personal project ever turns into something else – maybe something to be released – we simply have a conversation on how to best go about it, in ways that doesn’t hurt others in the group. Common sense.