TreesPlease Games, first founded in 2019 has been officially unveiled, including their first title, Longleaf Valley which was launched in stealth last year and $8m of seed funding.
The studio is led by ex-NaturalMotion general manager and Square Enix veteran Laura Carter. And as the name suggests has a decidedly eco-friendly mission to facilitate reforestation and the planting of trees from the profit of their games. According to TreesPlease, their debut title has already led to the three-hundred thousand trees being planted ahead of Longleaf Valley’s official announcement.
Carter spoke about the inspiration for her work and leadership with the studio “A childhood passion for fundraising and supporting charities like Greenpeace followed through into adulthood where I volunteered with various animal and environmental charities and became an activist, joining protests during my lunch hours whilst working in the games industry. I was making a difference, but I knew there was so much more to do and I wanted to dedicate more time to these critical causes.
“I decided to combine my passion for building games with my drive to help save animals and the environment to create a studio that made a difference at its central mission. As we come out of stealth to announce TreesPlease Games and Longleaf Valley, I couldn’t be more excited and proud of our incredible team’s achievements with both our first game and the impact we are making for our planet and all life.”
Games for good
Aside from the obvious fact that the environmentalist cause championed by TreesPlease represents another studio taking on the task of raising awareness and money for charity, it also represents the broad reach and potential of mobile games in assisting with this task. Thanks to the massive playerbase of mobile, it makes reaching the widest possible audience for games much more feasible than any other platform and thus succeeding in championing charitable causes.
While other causes such as British Racing Greats and Play for Turkiye have used more traditional methods such as events and game bundles, TreesPlease is part of a growing trend of companies – such as ustwo via their game Desta – contributing directly to charity from their profits in creating mobile games.