Within gaming culture, it’s well-known that videogame marketing has always focused on characters and weapons. So to attract a wider audience who didn’t care about the action, Xbox created a new reason to buy games. Not to play. To visit. Games have become so beautiful, Xbox became a travel brand, for the first time promoting not gameplay, but games as tourist destinations. The centrepiece was a groundbreaking partnership with global travel guide publisher Rough Guides. ‘The Rough Guide to Xbox’ worked just like their guides to countries, but with all the advice entirely for virtual worlds. Launched at the UK’s largest travel expo, the idea changed how people experience games, and the shift was amplified on everything from in-game guided tours to reframing console bundles as vacations. It was not just a new lens on gaming, but a new lens on travel.