Ghost of Yotei Is Driving a Real Tourism Push in Hokkaido

Ghost of Yotei has sparked a genuine tourism initiative in Hokkaido, Japan — seven towns in the Niseko region surrounding the real-life Mount Yotei have formed a discussion group to attract visitors inspired by Sucker Punch's PS5 exclusive, which sold over 3.3 million copies by November 2025.

The towns are targeting the off-season specifically. Niseko is already a major ski destination, with luxury hotels hitting around 200,000 yen ($1,200) per night during peak winter months — but that drops to roughly 10,000 yen ($60) in summer. A spokesperson from the town's planning and environment division told Nikkei: "We hope that through playing the game, people will discover not only the area's winter landscape but also its spring, summer and fall scenery, and that this will lead to actual visits." A Niseko representative added: "We want to focus these promotional efforts on seasons other than winter." On the merch side, Niseko has partnered with a Tokyo-based IP collaboration company to produce Ghost of Yotei T-shirts, with more licensed products planned. Local woodcraft business Kumagera has already released a line of Ghost of Yotei badges and magnets. Curated tours of in-game locations are also in development.

This isn't the first time a Sucker Punch game has moved the needle on Japanese tourism. Ghost of Tsushima sent a wave of visitors to Tsushima Island, and the game's director Nate Fox and creative director Jason Connell were named cultural ambassadors as a result. That precedent cuts both ways, though — Tsushima's Watazumi Shrine was restored using fan donations, but the island ended up banning tourists in March 2025 after some visitors behaved badly. Hokkaido's approach — a coordinated, multi-town group backed by tourism associations — looks like a more structured attempt to manage that kind of growth from the start.

With Ghost of Yotei set in 17th century Hokkaido and built on Sucker Punch's own research trips to the region, the game already functions as an extended showcase for the area's landscapes. Whether the tourism push avoids the pitfalls Tsushima ran into remains to be seen, but the groundwork is clearly being laid well ahead of any visitor surge.