Assassin's Creed Valhalla will continue to receive support form Ubisoft into its second year, a first for the series. Aside from the previously confirmed Siege of Paris expansion, Ubisoft has said more expansions are in the works for 2022 during its Ubisoft Forward presentation at E3 2021. But the announcements have continued even after E3 ended, although this doesn't have to do with new content for the game. Instead, it involves the game being used to promote tourism.
Tourism Ireland recently announced that it has partnered with Ubisoft to run an Assassin's Creed Valhalla campaign to help reach a new audience, namely the game's player-base. It's also been done to celebrate Ireland's role in the Wrath of the Druids DLC released last month. In this expansion, Viking leader Eivor travels to Ireland and becomes embroiled in the country's politics, while also giving players an opportunity to explore the country and learn its history.
Tourism Ireland has already uploaded a short video displaying many of the real locales players can discover in the DLC, comparing them to how they appear today and their appearances in Assassin's Creed Valhalla, such as the Giant's Causeway and the Hill of Tara. And, in another first for Tourism Ireland, it's collaborating with a number of content creators to showcase the various landscapes to their followers and further encourage them to visit Ireland. It hasn't named any of the content creators it's partnering with, only saying that they come from key tourism markets, including Great Britain, Germany, France, Spain, and the Nordic countries.
This isn't the first time a video game has been used to promote the real-world setting it takes place in. The Tsushima Island Tourism Board ran a similar campaign with Sucker Punch for Ghost of Tsushima, and it certainly helped bolster the island's image. It even resulted in many fans of the game contributing to the repairs to the Watatsumi shrine after it was damaged in a typhoon, followed by its mayor making the game's director and creative director honorary tourism ambassadors.
As for the future of Assassin's Creed Valhalla beyond the Siege of Paris DLC, Ubisoft hasn't revealed much, only dropping teasers of what could be in store for players, though it did mention that Norse god Odin may be making a return. It did confirm a new Discovery Tour experience, which lets players essentially role-play as an ordinary villager and see how they lived during the age of Vikings.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla is available for Amazon Luna, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: Tourism Ireland