Sega Europe has announced a new initiative that will see all of its PC physical releases going forward being packaged in 100% recyclable cardboard. This new packaging model was quietly rolled out with the November 2019 release of Football Manager 2020, and will continue with the upcoming release of Total War Rome II - Enemy at the Gates Edition.

This package contains the Hannibal at the Gates, Imperator Augustus and Empire Divided DLCs, and will be spread across three discs. The cardboard used to house them will be both recycled and recyclable.

Sega Europe is doing this to reduce the company's carbon footprint--plastic packaging in landfill is not as environmentally friendly as recyclable cardboard. The packaging for these first two releases was market-tested thoroughly beforehand, as people who purchase physical copies of PC games often want a premium product.

All printing on the boxes and manuals is done with water and vegetable inks, and the shrink-wrap used is a recyclable low-density polyethylene. This costs more to print, ultimately, but because the boxes are lighter, it also makes them cheaper to ship.

For more information, Miles Jacobson, studio director of Football Manager developer Sports Interactive, has published an open letter on the subject. In it, he challenges other publishers to embrace recyclable materials: "I’m throwing down the gauntlet here to ALL entertainment companies who use plastic for their Blu Ray, DVD and CD packaging. Imagine how much plastic we could save, how much landfill we could avoid and how much less plastic would make it into the oceans if we were all do this?"

Players who pick up this physical edition of Total War: Rome II can rest assured that it's environmentally conscious--and it's also a great game.