Places to Visit for Videogame Tourism

Video games, movies, books and music all share a unique ability to transport the person paying attention to a different reality.

In a pinch, these escapes can offer travelers a chance to get away when their real lives don’t allow it. When the availability to travel arises, though, videogames can provide a lot of inspiration for travel.

Visiting Studios

A great way to honor some of your favorite games through tourism is by visiting the places where games are made.

Nintendo of America’s headquarters is located in Redmond, Washington. There isn’t much to do at the actual campus, but, if you are in the Seattle area, this is a must-see for Nintendo fans. On the East Coast, Nintendo fans can get their fill by visiting Nintendo New York in New York City.

Rockstar Games, makers of Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption, has its headquarters in New York City. Activision Blizzard, makers of Overwatch, Diablo and Starcraft, has its headquarters in Santa Monica, California.

Look up your favorite game developer and seek out their studio.

Visiting Destinations Inspired by Games

The other option when discussing tourism is to visit real places created in favorite games, or those that served as the basis for destinations in games.

Series like Uncharted, where players are always adventuring in far-flung destinations, make this simple. Just pick a favorite scene from a game and travel to the city or region it is based on.

This can also become much more open to interpretation.

Some games, like David Cage’s Heavy Rain was set in a fictional city. The city is based on Philadelphia, though. Infamous: Second Son is similarly based upon Seattle and the list of potential regions and destinations to explore in this way go on.

No matter where you draw your inspiration from, if your next trip is video game-inspired, you will have a real memory to accompany your game memories.