Remember how Ghost Of Tsushima fans have helped raise more than a whopping US$260,000 to rebuild a shrine on the real Japanese island? Well, the priests there do. Because of that, Tsushima island has given a prestigious award to two senior members of the Ghost of Tsushima development team.

According to VGC, Sucker Punch game director Nate Fox and Creative director Jason Connell will become permanent tourism ambassadors of the city of Tsushima (which is located in Nagasaki province of Japan).

The ceremony will be held digitally due to travel restrictions, and the pair will be presented with the award and a letter of appreciation.

To mark the occasion, the city said it will collaborate with Sony Interactive Entertainment to set up a new tourism campaign based on the game, which is designed to encourage fans to learn more about the island and its key landmarks.

In a statement, Tsushima mayor Hiroki Hitakatsu said:

“[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 is literally 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.

In fact, I had been thinking and discussing about appointing the role to them ever since I discovered they were using Tsushima’s name as the name of their work.

I did not appoint them for the purpose of having them do anything in the future.

Thanks to the two of them, Sucker Punch Productions, and SIE, I have heard from people all over the world who have learned about Tsushima through their works, and now want to see, know, and go to Tsushima.

I would really like to appoint all the Sucker Punch, SIE, and game users who were involved in the work as Tourism Ambassadors.”

The crowdfunding effort concluded on Sunday with more than 540 percent of its 5 million Japanese Yen ($47,500) goal raised. Over 2000 people contributed to the project, including many fans of Sucker Punch’s PlayStation game.

Sucker Punch’s Ghost Of Tsushima is now one of the most successful PlayStation exclusives of all time, with more than five million copies sold since its launch in July 2020. You can check out our review of the game here.