Video games and agriculture are concepts not often considered side-by-side, but Swedish game developer Giants Software aims to change that with Farming Simulator.
Giants Software, the game's developer, now receives hundreds of enquiries each year from equipment manufacturers - from tractors and combine harvesters to trailers, balers, and seed drills - about how they may be featured in the game, in which players establish their own virtual farm.
Players begin with a barn, some equipment and a little land. They need to grow food, sell it, expand their farm – and buy better gear.
There are dynamically generated missions that consist of the player performing various tasks within a time frame such as mowing grass, fertilizing fields, or delivering cargo. The player is rewarded with money once the task is finished, plus a bonus based on how quickly the task was completed.
Giants, based in Switzerland, said that interest from manufacturers provides it with enough of a revenue stream to cover the costs of game development. “In the beginning, we had to ask manufacturers to be included in the game,” said Wolfgang Ebert, Giants’ marketing manager. “Today, we have to consider who we can integrate and what benefit there is to the game – we have many, many brands waiting to be included.”
Giants has made partnerships with massive brands like John Deere, Mack, Husqvarna, Stihl and many many more agricultural-based companies.
Farming Simulator comes as a great experience for even the youngest of farmers with their latest title, Farming Simulator 23, getting its release on Nintendo Switch in May this year. Though the series targets the audience that are knowledgeable in the farming industry, the series is generally liked by both farmers and non-farmers alike.
As computers and consoles become more and more powerful, simulators are able to get more and more realistic, and as this happens, the comparison to the real world gets more and more effective. What this means is that farmers can purchase Farming Simulator to field test equipment before they make a final decision about a real-world purchase, saving a lot of money.
