Mission Possible: Zoo Tycoon Players Achieve First Community Challenge

With the support of the “Zoo Tycoon” community, Microsoft is proud to announce that the first-ever “Zoo Tycoon” Community Challenge has been successfully achieved. More than 10,000 players voted, selecting to support the Sumatran Tiger Survival Program. In just a few weeks, players then took on the challenge and released 1,000 Sumatran Tigers into the wild in the game. As a direct result of these efforts, Microsoft donated $10,000 to the Sumatran Tiger Survival Program. Run by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums (AZA), the program aims to help reduce the number of Sumatran Tigers killed, displaced or caught in snares.

Today, with the release of a new developer diary, we get a closer look at how the conservation effort operates and how the funds will be used. According to Dr. Peter Klein, deputy director of the Wildlife Conversation Society of Asia, the estimated 300 remaining endangered tigers continue to be threatened by habitat loss and human-tiger conflict. In previous years, approximately 15 tigers were killed every year due to human-tiger conflict, and with the help of the Wildlife Conservation Society, the number has drastically reduced to one tiger killed per year. The tiger conservation campaign aims to improve the long-term survival of Sumatran tigers and eliminate human-tiger conflict altogether.

The funds raised by the “Zoo Tycoon” community will be used to purchase more equipment to construct tiger-proofed enclosures and noise cannons to help push the tigers back into the forest, in addition to paying for staff travel costs to the remote villages where human-tiger conflict is most intense.

Voting for the next “Zoo Tycoon” Community Challenge is happening now, so head over to the “Community” page in the game to pick from challenges supporting Sumatran Elephants, Northern White Rhinos or Lesser Antillean Iguanas. You can also check the voting progress on the Xbox One Achievements app.