Xbox Made Tourism Ads for Its Most Beautiful In-Game Destinations

As technology has improved, video games have become as renowned for their visual beauty as their gameplay. And we’re not talking live-action trailers. The vistas within the games themselves have become visually gorgeous—as breathtaking, perhaps, as some landscapes in the real world (seen in 2-D, at least). 

The latest graphic improvements in gaming have come from Xbox, whose “Xbox One X Enhanced” titles have specific optimizations like 4K resolution and HRD lighting. 

McCann London and Xbox are saluting the beauty of Xbox One X Enhanced games in a clever way—by rolling out a tourism campaign encouraging you to visit a number of virtual locations in the games for their beauty alone, regardless of gameplay mechanics or storylines. 

The tagline is, “Visit Xbox.” 

See some of the still executions below. The campaign includes images from games including Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Forza Horizon 4, Gears of War 4, Halo 5, Metro Exodus and Sekiro.

Forza Horizon 4

Sekiro

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

There’s also this video: 

The xbox.com/visitxbox site has downloadable wallpapers as well as a postcard generator. Xbox recently hosted live guided tours of Forza Horizon 4 (a racing game) on mixer.com, an interactive streaming platform. Those tours were streamed on giant billboards in London. There will even be a Rough Guides guidebook of Xbox gaming destinations.

The campaign will run in some 30 markets globally. It’s a delightful idea that playfully mimics another advertising genre to seamlessly show just how improved the graphics on Xbox are. And folding so many titles into the campaign demonstrates the range of beauty that the gamer/traveler can enjoy. 

“This new type of ‘tourism’ offers people incredible new worlds to explore, from vibrant cities to exotic wildernesses to outer space,” says Laurence Thomson, chief creative officer at McCann U.K. and co-president at McCann London. “Game worlds are so rich and immersive; this campaign aims to showcase that beauty.”

“With ‘Visit Xbox’ we want to inspire everyone to become a gaming tourist and explore breath-taking Xbox One X Enhanced worlds,” adds Michael Flatt, global gaming marcom lead for Xbox said. “Our campaign offers destinations from the past, present and future; on our world and beyond. Together with the Xbox community, we will continue to find, curate, and capture the most beautiful locations in games.”

See more images below. 

Metro Exodus

Halo 5

Gears of War 4

Anthem

Forza Horizon 4

CREDITS

Rob Doubal – Chief Creative Officer McCann UK and Co-President, McCann London
Laurence Thomson – Chief Creative Officer McCann UK and Co-President, McCann London
Jamie Mietz – Executive Creative Director 
Sanjiv Mistry – Executive Creative Director
Jim Nilsson – Senior Creative
Jacob Bjordal – Senior Creative
Jim Nilsson – Director
Jacob Bjordal – Director
Karen Crum – Head of Strategy
James Appleby – Senior Planner
Fannie David – Senior Planner
Dan Howarth – Head of Art
Matthew Thomas – Designer
Nazima Motegheria – Designer
Clare Prager – Project Director
Anna Curtis – Project Manager
Sailesh Jani – Managing Partner
Nicole Robinson-Spaude – Senior Account Director
Andy Wynn – Account Director
Conor Lloyd – Senior Account Manager
Anastasia Imam – Account Manager
Lucy Manning – Account Manager
Eloise Thompson – Account Executive
Rob Smith – EVP and CCO at McCann UK
Sergio Lopez – Chief Production Officer McCann Wg EMEA, MD Craft EMEA
Kin-man Ly – Executive Producer
Ellis Faint – Head of Studio
Alex Dougan – Producer
Jeremy Reichman – Producer
Liam White – Print Producer
Pam Oskam – Art buyer
Harvey Winter – Junior Producer
Holly Webster – Creative Researcher
Fire Without Smoke – Production company (Film)
Craft London – Post production
Momentum – Production Company (OOH)
Tai Smith – Creative Technologist
Attention Seekers – Production Company (OOH)
Clockwork – Production Company (Xbox .com website)