West Virginia officially embraces the inevitable flood of Fallout 76 tourists

News
By published

The governor and the state's tourism office have partnered with Bethesda to sell stuff to visiting Fallout fans.

The governor of West Virginia and the West Virginia Tourism Office announced they are partnering with Bethesda for "advertising and touring opportunities" related to Fallout 76. The West Virginia setting of Fallout 76 (albeit a post-apocalyptic version of it), is sure to draw fans to the state (if it hasn't already) to visit locations from the open world multiplayer game.

A post on The West Virignia Tourism Office's site states it "...will be creating advertising strategies to both educate players about West Virginia’s unique landscape and culture, as well as offer them an open invitation to visit the state over the coming months."

“For years, I’ve been saying we have it all," said Governor Jim Justice, "beautiful scenery, the best people you could ask for and more. And now, we get to share a piece of that with people all over the world through the unique lens of this video game."

“Our goal is to welcome each and every one of the game’s players to Almost Heaven,” said Tourism Commissioner Chelsea Ruby. “Bethesda has been a terrific partner since day one. They’ve really embraced West Virginia and its beauty. We believe this unique partnership has tremendous potential to bring folks to visit the Mountain State."

There aren't any specific details yet about what this partnership will result in, though it's worth nothing that West Virginia's Mothman Museum, which is also a location in Fallout 76, is selling (and is already sold out of) Fallout 76 posters and T-shirts.

Christopher Livingston
Christopher Livingston
Senior Editor

Chris started playing PC games in the 1980s, started writing about them in the early 2000s, and (finally) started getting paid to write about them in the late 2000s. Following a few years as a regular freelancer, PC Gamer hired him in 2014, probably so he'd stop emailing them asking for more work. Chris has a love-hate relationship with survival games and an unhealthy fascination with the inner lives of NPCs. He's also a fan of offbeat simulation games, mods, and ignoring storylines in RPGs so he can make up his own.