As emerging cultural products characterized by high levels of interactivity and immersion, digital games provide players with a unique sense of presence through the virtual scenarios constructed in their design. Consequently, this enhances the renown and tourist appeal of their associated real-world locations, demonstrating significant practical importance in promoting the deep integration of culture and tourism and fostering regional tourism economic development. This study takes Black Myth: Wukong as a case study to explore the impact of a digital game on tourism development in its associated real-world locations. By collecting panel data from a total of 327 scenic spots, comprising 16 real-world scenic spots associated with the game's scenes and other spots within their host cities, for 30 weeks before and after the game's release, this research employs Difference-in-Differences (DID), Mediation Effect, and Spatial Difference-in-Differences (SDID) models to systematically examine the game's impact on tourist flow, its underlying mechanisms, and its spatial effects at the micro-level of individual scenic spots. The results indicate that: (1) The digital game has a significant promotional effect on tourist flow to its associated real-world locations. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that this effect is more pronounced in regions with abundant tourism resources, greater reception capacity, and larger city scales. (2) Mechanism analysis shows that the game's launch increased online attention to the associated real-world locations, which in turn drove the growth in tourist flow. Furthermore, the parallel trends test indicates that the increase in online attention is immediate, whereas the growth in actual tourist flow exhibits a time lag of two to three weeks. (3) The impact of the digital game on tourist flow exhibits significant spatial spillover effects. However, the scope and direction of these effects demonstrate spatial heterogeneity at different geographical distances: the associated scenic spots stimulate tourist flow growth in nearby spots within a 10 km radius but create a siphon effect on those located 10 to 20 kilometers away. No significant impact is observed beyond 20 kilometers. Based on this empirical analysis, the study proposes policy recommendations to advance the integrated development of regional cultural tourism and digital cultural products, aiming to provide a reference for future research and practice.
LIU et al. (Thu,) studied this question.