The true Japanese island of Tsushima has awarded a prestigious award to two senior members of the Ghost of Tsushima [63 articles]”href =” https://www.videogameschronicle.com/games/ghost-of-tsushima/ “> Ghost of Tsushima Development Team.
Game Director Nate Fox [27 articles]”href =” https://www.videogameschronicle.com/people/nate-fox/ “> Nate Fox and Creative Director Jason Connell [27 articles]”href =” https://www.videogameschronicle.com/people/jason-connell/ “> Jason Connell becomes permanent tourism ambassador of the city of Tsushima in Nagasaki, the island announced this week.
The ceremony will be held digitally due to travel restrictions, and the couple will hand over the award and a letter of appreciation.
For the occasion, the city said it would partner with Sony Interactive Entertainment [1,220 articles]”href =” https://www.videogameschronicle.com/companies/sony/ “> Sony Interactive Entertainment to launch a new game-based tourism campaign designed to encourage fans to learn more to come across the island and its key beacons.
In a statement, Hirushi Hitakatsu, Mayor of Tsushima, explained why the couple was awarded the honor.
‘[Fox and Connell] “the name and history of Tsushima spread around the world in such a wonderful way,” he said.
‘Even many Japanese do not know the history of the Gen-ko period. As for the world, the name and location of Tsushima are literally unknown, so I can not thank them enough for telling our story with such phenomenal graphics and in-depth stories. ”
The mayor further explained that although the award has been given to notable Japanese people in the past, it is the first time that it has been awarded to someone “who spread the name and history of Tsushima through their works”.
“The appointment of tourism ambassador is from today until Mr. Jason and Mr. Nate no longer want it,” he said. “In fact, I’ve been thinking and thinking about appointing the role since I discovered they’ve using Tsushima’s name as the name of their work.”
He added: ‘I did not appoint them to do anything in the future. Thanks to the two of them, Sucker Punch Productions [39 articles]”href =” https://www.videogameschronicle.com/companies/sony/sucker-punch-productions/ “> Sucker Punch Productions, and SIE, I have heard from people around the world who have learned from Tsushima’s works, and now wants to see, know and go to Tsushima. ”
After travel restrictions were lifted, Mayor Hitakatsu said he wanted to invite Fox, Connell and the entire Sucker Punch team to Tsushima, and he hoped their visit “would make them even more fond of Tsushima.”
“I would like to appoint all the Sucker Punch, SIE and game users involved in the work as tourism ambassadors,” he said.
Tsushima enjoyed newfound recognition after the release of Ghost of Tsushima last year. Ghost of Tsushima will be released in July 2020 and will be an immediate success.
The open-world PS4 action game sold more than 2.4 million copies worldwide in its first three days of sales worldwide, according to Sony, which was a new record for an original IP launch.
In Japan, Ghost of Tsushima recorded the best launch sales of any first-party PlayStation 4 [2,770 articles]”href =” https://www.videogameschronicle.com/platforms/playstation/ps4/ “> PlayStation 4 game to date.
In January, the popularity of the PlayStation [2,986 articles]”href =” https://www.videogameschronicle.com/platforms/playstation/ “> PlayStation gaming has led fans to raise more than $ 260,000 to rebuild a sanctuary on the real island.
Yuichi Hirayama, a priest at Tsushima’s Watatsumi shrine, launched a crowdfunding page last November to rebuild the Torii gate that collapsed during a typhoon.
The crowdfunding effort ended Sunday with more than 540% of the goal of 5,000,000 JPY ($ 47,500). More than 2,000 people contributed to the project, including many fans of Sucker Punch’s PlayStation game.
“We have received a lot of support from the players of the Ghost of Tsushima game in Tsushima, and I feel it is God’s guidance,” Hirayama wrote on the crowdfunding page.
“I am very grateful for the support of so many people during a short life because of the coronavirus and the challenging economic situation.”
Sucker Punch is likely to work on more Ghost of Tsushima content, according to a recent job advertisement requesting a narrative designer who has a “desire to write stories in feudal Japan.”