2024-07-30
PlanetPlay’s Make Green Tuesday Moves campaign wouldn’t be possible without the support of our studio partners. Thanks to their passion and commitment to working with us to tackle the climate challenge, we are collectively leveraging the power of gaming to make a real impact.
So, we are throwing the spotlight on some of our awesome partners, highlighting their studios, their games and their ideals.
First up, we speak to CM Games, which has embraced the Make Green Tuesday Moves initiative via its top-selling Nitro Nation franchise…
Tell us about CM Games.
CM Games, former Creative Mobile, was founded in 2010 by three colleagues interested in making games for the Android market. It has grown from a small team of enthusiasts to a modern game and service developer with a team of more than 90 professionals worldwide.
We’ve built and launched ground-breaking mobile, VR, and PC games enjoyed by at least 500 million players.
Your HQ is in Estonia – how significant is the games industry in the country?
Estonia's game development scene, although small, is supported by various educational programmes dedicated to game development careers. Universities like the Estonian Entrepreneurship University of Applied Sciences and Tallinn University offer specific curriculums in game design and development.
Game development initiatives and incubators, such as those in Pärnu, alongside educational efforts in cities like Tartu, are promoting industry growth.
Overall, there are a little less than a hundred successful companies, and CM Games is proud to be part of this vibrant ecosystem, leveraging local talent and resources to compete globally.
You’re something of a specialist in the racing genre – how did that come about?
Initially CM Games was best known for its racing series, we shaped a new genre by creating Drag Racing and, later, Nitro Nation series — iconic drag and drift games that persisted at the top of category rankings for a decade and attracted hundreds of millions of downloads.
Tell us about the Nitro Nation franchise.
We've done a lot of experimenting within the racing genre following the astounding success of our original Drag Racing game. This experimentation led us to create several exciting iterations, including Drag Racing 4x4, Bike Edition, and some social variations of the classic drag racing game. Each new release has been met with enthusiasm and joy from our fans.
With the launch of Nitro Nation, we continued to push the boundaries, which eventually led to the creation of Nitro Nation Stories. This game, less hardcore and more arcade-like, marked our first foray into working with pop culture. We partnered with popular rap artist Fetty Wap, who became the main character in our game. Over the years, the Nitro Nation Universe has expanded well beyond the mobile markets, establishing a significant presence across various gaming platforms.
What is coming up in the franchise?
As we explore cross-platform capabilities, we're considering how to eventually elevate the racing experience by blending it with the adrenaline-pumping world of virtual reality. Once everything is perfectly aligned, this could lead to a dynamic evolution in the racing genre.
You’ve recently moved into the VR space too. Tell us more.
VR games are another part of the company's DNA, with our debut game Into The Radius being ranked Steam VR Platinum in 2021 and 2022, and becoming a Meta Quest bestseller following its launch on standalone VR. Having recently released an upcoming sequel – Into the Radius 2 to Early Access on Steam – we continue experimenting with other play modes and settings enabled by this exciting medium. The plan is to fully release the game in 2025.
How does the Make Green Tuesday Moves fit with your CSR goals?
Our journey in corporate social responsibility (CSR) began in 2019 when we joined the Playing for the Planet alliance. Since then, we have collaborated with organisations such as the Sustainable Games Alliance and continued our partnership with Playing for the Planet.
Now, PlanetPlay is among our valued partners and friends. Our goals are to spread information about green and sustainable futures as effectively as possible, and we leverage our games and community to do this. We have committed to achieving net zero by 2040, which is the cornerstone of our CSR strategy. To reach this ambitious goal, we must learn much and gain the support of our players and partners. Participating in the Make Green Tuesday Moves (MGTM) programme is one of the steps towards achieving this objective.
Find out more about CM Games here