Ghost of Yotei sparks tourism push in Japan’s Mount Yotei region
Japanese towns surrounding Mount Yōtei have launched a tourism campaign capitalizing on the popularity of Sucker Punch’s PlayStation exclusive action-adventure game, Ghost of Yotei. The game, released in 2025 and set in Japan’s Hokkaido region during the 1600s, has inspired seven towns and villages in the Mount Yōtei area to develop merchandise and organize tours to attract fans.
This initiative follows the substantial success of the previous entry in the franchise, Ghost of Tsushima (2020), which sparked a major tourism boom on the real island of Tsushima. That game’s influence was so significant that local communities launched their own tours and merchandise programs. Most notably, the game’s popularity inspired fans to raise over $260,000 to fund the reconstruction of a shrine on the island in 2021. The success was such that Sucker Punch’s creative directors were appointed as permanent tourist ambassadors for Tsushima.
The Mount Yōtei campaign demonstrates how popular video games can generate substantial real-world cultural and economic impact, with Japanese communities leveraging their connection to fictional narratives set in their regions to attract international tourism and support local heritage preservation.