An international video game could play a role in Montana’s tourism future, says a state tourism official. And one Boulder resident says it could also make a local difference.
“If you are not a gamer, you may not have heard the news that there is a newly released international video game called Far Cry 5,” said Jan Stoddard, a bureau chief with the Montana Office of Tourism and Business Development.
But Stoddard and others have heard of it, and they are getting ready for it to have an impact.
“The gaming studio, Ubisoft, features exotic locations for their games and for this version, it is Montana,” she said.
The more recent previous version had 43 million players, many of whom traveled to the featured location.
Research on the previous games “shows that gamers have an average profile of 30 years old, college educated, with the financial capability and time to travel,” said Stoddard.
The Southwest Montana Tourism Region is looking to capitalize on that and has created a page online with content to help the visitors plan a trip and find locations to explore what they have found in the game. Called VisitHopeCounty.com, the page showcases Montana sites.
One location scouted by the game creators, according to Pat Lewis, former owner of the Free Enterprise Mine was that business. Game representatives visited a couple of years ago, she said.
Within days of its release, Far Cry 5 was seeing a record number of subscribers and was the “fastest-selling game in series history in the UK,” said Stoddard.
“We already had some visitors show up last summer (9 months before the game released) asking for information,” added Stoddard.
While Far Cry 5 is work of fiction, Montana inspired the version of small town America.
The goal of VisitHopeCounty.com is to “showcase the beautiful locations and activities in Montana that provided the inspiration for Far Cry 5,” said Stoddard.
