GAMING
PlanetPlay
Turning Gaming into Climate Action
Discover how AE Studio built the full-stack blockchain infrastructure connecting video game purchases to verified carbon removal, creating a new model for sustainable gaming.
THE CHALLENGE
The problem.
The gaming industry is massive (billions of players, trillions of in-app purchases), but its environmental footprint is largely invisible to the people driving it. Individual players have no mechanism to connect their entertainment spending to climate outcomes. Game studios have no easy way to signal environmental commitment without rebuilding their products from scratch.
PlanetPlay had a compelling vision: create a universal layer between gaming and climate action, letting any studio plug into a system that automatically channels a portion of in-game purchases toward verified carbon removal. But the vision required solving several compounding technical problems at once.
The core challenge was trust. Any platform claiming to convert gameplay into carbon removal needs a transparent, auditable record of every transaction. That means connecting real-world purchase events to on-chain carbon credit records in a way players and studios can independently verify. Without that, the climate claims are marketing, not impact.
Beyond trust, there was the integration problem. Game studios operate in their own ecosystems with their own payment flows. A solution that requires deep engineering effort from every studio partner would stall at the first integration. The platform needed to work via lightweight API connections, not full rebuilds.
Finally, the currency design problem: how do you give players something meaningful in return for their contribution? The Green Coin had to be worth earning, worth spending, and worth understanding. It needed to represent a real, verifiable unit of carbon removal, not a symbolic badge.
THE SOLUTION
What we built.
Designing the Green Coin: A Currency with Real-World Meaning
AE Studio worked with PlanetPlay to refine the core product concept before a line of infrastructure was written. The Green Coin became the unit of account for the entire ecosystem: 10 cents of in-game spend generates one Green Coin, and each Green Coin represents 8.33 kilograms of CO₂ removed from the atmosphere.
This peg is not arbitrary. It ties the currency to the actual cost of verified carbon removal credits, making the conversion rate defensible and transparent. Players who earn Green Coins can see exactly what their gaming activity has funded in terms of physical carbon extraction.
Blockchain Infrastructure Built for Auditability
The platform runs on a hybrid data architecture designed to balance performance with verifiability. Polygon handles on-chain token operations and carbon credit transactions, providing a public, auditable record that neither PlanetPlay nor any partner studio can retroactively alter.
AWS Quantum Ledger Database (QLDB) provides an immutable transaction log for every event in the system (purchases, token issuance, redemptions), creating an append-only audit trail that supports regulatory and partner verification needs. MongoDB handles application-layer data, including user profiles, studio configurations, and marketplace inventory.
The combination gives PlanetPlay a system that is fast enough for real-time gaming interactions, auditable enough for carbon credit integrity, and flexible enough to onboard new studios through API rather than deep integration.
Studio Integration: API-First Architecture
Game studios plug into the PlanetPlay ecosystem through a set of APIs that sit alongside their existing payment flows. The primary integration point is coin bundles: when a player purchases in-game currency or items through a participating studio, a portion of that transaction routes through the PlanetPlay layer.
Studios do not need to rebuild their payment systems. They configure their integration once, set their donation percentage, and the platform handles token issuance, carbon credit allocation, and player rewards automatically. This low-friction onboarding was a deliberate design choice: every additional week of integration time reduces the number of studios who complete the process.
Player Experience: Two Ways to Spend Green Coins
Players interact with PlanetPlay through a dedicated web application that shows their accumulated Green Coins, their carbon impact, and the marketplace where they can spend their tokens.
Two primary redemption paths exist. Players can spend Green Coins directly on carbon credits, purchasing verified removal units that appear in their profile as a permanent record of their contribution. Alternatively, they can spend Green Coins on digital assets, special in-game items created by studios specifically for the PlanetPlay marketplace, giving tokens immediate gaming utility in addition to environmental value.
This dual-use design solves a classic engagement problem: if the only thing you can do with an environmental currency is buy more environmental credits, you lose the players who prioritize gameplay over impact. By giving tokens gaming utility, the platform retains both audiences.
Studio Analytics Dashboard
PlanetPlay built studio-facing tooling that gives game partners visibility into how the integration is performing. The analytics dashboard displays real-time impact metrics (total carbon removed, green tokens issued, asset sales driven by PlanetPlay) alongside player engagement data that helps studios understand whether the integration is influencing purchase behavior.
This dashboard serves a dual purpose: it helps studios optimize their PlanetPlay configuration, and it gives them the data they need to communicate their environmental contribution to their own players and press. A studio that can show measurable carbon removal driven by their game community has a genuine story to tell.
Amplitude Integration for Behavioral Analytics
AE Studio set up Amplitude as the behavioral analytics layer across the PlanetPlay platform, tracking the full user journey from game discovery to Green Coin redemption. The instrumentation captures purchase funnels, asset popularity, token spending patterns, and player retention over time.
This data feeds back into PlanetPlay's product and partnership decisions. Understanding which assets drive the most engagement, which studios generate the most climate action, and where players drop out of the funnel allows the team to optimize both the platform and its studio relationships without relying on expensive third-party gaming data providers.
Transparent Carbon Credit Verification
Every carbon credit sold through the PlanetPlay marketplace links to a verified removal project. The blockchain record created at the time of purchase provides an immutable reference point connecting the player's transaction to a specific carbon removal event.
This transparency is what separates PlanetPlay from green marketing. Players are not making a donation to an environmental fund that may or may not deliver results. They are purchasing a specific, verifiable unit of carbon removal backed by a public on-chain record. The QLDB audit trail ensures that the same credit cannot be sold twice and that the platform's carbon claims are independently verifiable.
HOW IT WORKS
The details.
A Currency Tied to Real Carbon Removal
AE Studio worked with PlanetPlay to design the Green Coin before any infrastructure was built. Every 10 cents a player spends in a participating game generates one Green Coin. Each Green Coin represents 8.33 kilograms of carbon removed from the atmosphere. That conversion rate is tied to the actual cost of verified carbon removal credits, making it transparent and defensible. Players can see exactly what their gaming has funded.
A Blockchain Back End Designed for Auditability
The platform uses three different data layers working together. One handles on-chain token operations and carbon credit transactions on a public blockchain, so the record cannot be altered. A second provides an append-only log of every event in the system, supporting regulatory and partner verification. A third handles application data like user profiles and marketplace inventory. Together they give PlanetPlay a system that is fast, auditable, and flexible enough to onboard new game studios through an API.
Game Studios Connect Without Rebuilding Their Payment Systems
Studios plug into PlanetPlay through a set of APIs that sit alongside their existing payment flows. They configure the integration once, set how much of each transaction goes toward Green Coins, and the platform handles everything else automatically: token issuance, carbon credit allocation, and player rewards. Low friction was a deliberate design choice because every extra week of integration time reduces the number of studios that complete the process.
Players Can Spend Their Coins Two Ways
Players see their Green Coins, their carbon impact, and a marketplace through a dedicated web app. They can spend coins on verified carbon removal credits, which appear in their profile as a permanent record. Or they can spend coins on special in-game items created by studios specifically for the marketplace. This dual-use design was important because if the only way to spend an environmental currency is to buy more environmental credits, you lose the players who are there for the game.
Studios See the Impact Their Game Is Having
AE Studio built analytics dashboards for game partners showing real-time data: how much carbon has been removed, how many tokens have been issued, and how player behaviour has changed. This gives studios the numbers they need to talk about their environmental contribution to their own players and press. A studio that can point to measurable carbon removal driven by its community has a genuine story to tell.
Every Carbon Credit Links Back to a Verified Removal Project
Every credit sold through the marketplace links to a specific, verified carbon removal project. The blockchain record created at purchase time connects the player's transaction to that project and cannot be changed. The same credit cannot be sold twice. Players are not donating to a fund. They are purchasing a specific, verifiable unit of removal with a public record to prove it.
OUTCOMES
What shipped.
Production-ready end-to-end platform delivered connecting gameplay to verified carbon removal
Green Coin peg: 1 coin per $0.10 of in-game spend = 8.33kg CO₂ removed
Dual redemption model: carbon credits and in-game digital assets
Real-time studio analytics dashboard tracking impact metrics and player engagement
Immutable transaction audit trail via AWS QLDB for carbon credit integrity
KEY TAKEAWAYS
What we learned.
- Blockchain credibility requires more than marketing claims. Using Polygon for on-chain records and QLDB for immutable audit trails made PlanetPlay's carbon removal claims independently verifiable, a prerequisite for trust in the sustainability space.
- Currency design determines adoption. Giving Green Coins dual utility, both environmental credits and in-game assets, solved the engagement problem that plagues single-purpose environmental currencies.
- API-first integration is the only viable path to scale. Studios that face deep integration requirements drop out. A lightweight API layer that slots into existing payment flows is what makes a platform partner-friendly enough to reach meaningful adoption.
- Analytics are a partnership tool, not just a product tool. The studio dashboard turned data into a business development asset, giving PlanetPlay something concrete to show prospective partners beyond the environmental vision.
- Pegging impact to a real-world cost creates defensible claims. Tying Green Coin value to the actual market price of verified carbon removal credits made the environmental promise specific and auditable rather than aspirational.
IN SUMMARY
Bottom line.
In summary, gaming is one of the largest entertainment industries on the planet, with billions of active players making trillions of micro-purchases each year. As a result, PlanetPlay identified that infrastructure, not intention, was the missing piece between that scale and meaningful climate action.
AE Studio built the platform that makes the connection real: a blockchain-backed, API-integrated system where in-game spending generates verifiable carbon removal, players earn a currency with genuine utility, and studios gain an environmental story backed by data rather than marketing.
The result is a new model for the gaming industry, one where entertainment and environmental impact are not in tension, but structurally linked.
FAQ
Frequently asked.
How does PlanetPlay verify that carbon removal actually happens?
How do game studios integrate with PlanetPlay?
What can players do with Green Coins?
Why Polygon for the blockchain layer?
How does the studio analytics dashboard support partner retention?
LET'S TALK
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We'll bring the team that ships.