From game worlds to heritage tourism: stakeholder coordination in video game-induced tourism

Video game-induced tourism is commonly examined through the lenses of visitor motivations, destination image, and tourist experiences. Less attention has been devoted to understanding how the popularity of a video game is translated into a functioning tourism destination and how diverse stakeholders coordinate the development of tourism products around a mediated world. Addressing this gap, this paper examines the case of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 (KCD2) and the KCD: Live platform in Czechia. Drawing on interviews with representatives of Warhorse Studios and KCD: Live, field observations, document analysis, and tourism statistics, the study investigates how a virtual historical game world was transformed into a coordinated tourism ecosystem. Conceptually, the paper adopts a destination governance and assemblage perspective, viewing video game-induced tourism as an outcome of relationships among game developers, heritage sites, destination management organisations, public institutions, private tourism operators, and fan communities. The findings demonstrate that the successful development of KCD2 tourism depended on five interrelated conditions: the realistic representation of heritage sites within the game, collaborative marketing and dedicated product development, the geographical proximity of represented locations, the global commercial success of the game, and the developer’s strong commitment to Czech history and cultural heritage. These elements enabled stakeholders to translate player engagement into place-based experiences and to create a coherent destination narrative supported by coordinated governance structures. The study contributes to media-induced tourism scholarship by shifting attention from visitor motivations to the processes through which mediated worlds are assembled, managed, and sustained as tourism destinations. More broadly, it demonstrates how digital cultural products can become catalysts for destination development through stakeholder collaboration and the strategic coordination of narratives, places, and tourism experiences.