Local creatives bring Māori culture to gaming - without the appropriation
Self-proclaimed digital haututū are collaborating with international gaming giants to put Māori gaming characters on the map – and take a stand against cultural appropriation in the industry.
Christchurch-based company Māui Studios was approached by Apex Legends’ primary writer, Sam Gill, to consult and provide visuals for a wahine Māori character concept. Gill, a New Zealander based in Canada, knew the importance of “getting this right”.
Māui Studios co-founder Vincent Egan said it was simply “reputation and a solid SEO” that landed them the gig.
“We knew from the outset we needed to smash this. They made some pretty hard out mistakes in the past with [the character] Gibraltar. It was cultural appropriation at its finest and it got mad hate, so they wanted to get it right this time.”
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Apex Legends is a game created by American gaming giant Respawn, and is published by EA Games. Gibraltar entered the Apex Legends world in 2019, loosely labelled as ‘Polynesian’. The character was designed without input from any Māori or Polynesian consultants, and was voiced by a Native American actor.
Thankfully, Mad Maggie is voiced by wahine Māori actress Nicola Kāwana (Ngāruahine, Ngāti Ruanui, Ngāti Kahungungu and Rangitāne).
As a gamer himself, Egan is well aware of the casual and constant cultural appropriation that occurs in gaming and was determined that would not be the case with the new character concept, Mad Maggie.
“What better way to do it than to
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