The real-life Tsushima island honours the work of Sucker Punch, as they have helped the local Japanese community a lot.

VGC reports that Nate Fox and Jason Connell, the two directors of the July 2020-launched PlayStation 4-exclusive Ghost of Tsushima, have been crowned permanent tourism ambassadors of Nagasaki’s city of Tsushima. However, due to the coronavirus global pandemic, the ceremony will be held digitally. The pair will be presented the award, and they will also receive a letter of appreciation from the island. Tsushima will also try to work with Sony Interactive Entertainment to launch a new tourism campaign that is based on the game so that the fans are encouraged to discover more of the island and its landmarks.

„[Fox and Connell] spread the name and history of Tsushima to the whole world in such a wonderful way. Even a lot of Japanese people do not know the history of the Gen-ko period. When it comes to the world, the name and location of Tsushima are unknown, so I cannot thank them enough for telling our story with such phenomenal graphics and profound stories.

The appointment of Tourism Ambassador is from today until Mr Jason and Mr Nate no longer wish to have it. I had been thinking and discussing appointing the role to them ever since I discovered they were using Tsushima’s name as the name of their work,” Hiromi Hitakatsu, the mayor of Tsushima, said.

Sucker Punch deserves it. They already helped Tsushima via its fans crowdfunding the restoration of a traditional gate (a torii) that was destroyed in a typhoon. And without the game, the funds might not have been present that easily. Ghost of Tsushima is getting a sequel (on PlayStation 5, but it’s not announced yet).

Video games connect people, regardless of their culture.

Source: PSU