Photo: Blizzard
Earlier this month, the highly anticipated "Mauga" arrived to Overwatch 2. Mauga - which means mountain in Samoan - is a fitting name for the chiselled and heavily tattooed character who wields chain guns in both hands.
First-ever Samoan gaming hero
If you're unfamiliar with gaming, Overwatch is a popular online multiplayer shooter series that's available on both Xbox and PlayStation.
According to its creators, Blizzard Entertainment, the game attracts a daily average of 1,723,000 players. A roster of 39 heroes is available for players such as "Doomfist" an iron fist brawler or "Widowmaker" a remorseless sniper seeking vengeance for the death of her husband.
"Mauga is our Samoan hero. He was part of an eco-warrior rebel group that was fighting corporations and people who were disrespecting the nature and beauty of the Polynesian islands," narrative designer Kyungseo Min said.
"He's super joyful big guy, he's the kind of guy who is the centre of the party but you don't want to cross him," she added.
"He has dual wielding chain guns and they're huge. One chain gun can light an enemy on fire or you can just push both buttons at the same time and spray a shower of bullets."
Photo: Blizzard
When it comes to video games, Pacific Islander characters are usually only found in the sporting simulations of American football and professional wrestling.
The 2002 family friendly Lilo and Stich video game was a popular game among children while Pacific Island characters would occasionally appear as non-playable characters such as Samoan gang members in Grand Theft Auto V or Maori tattooed group leader Sinamoi in the tropical Zombie apocalypse of Dead Island 2.
"We want to make characters that people want to be and that's directly related to some kind of culture," art director Dion Rogers said.
Photo: Blizzard
Rogers said Mauga had been developed on and off for five years.
He said the Overwatch team was looking for a character who would fit the category of Tank Hero - a large hulk with less speed but greater firing power.
"We decided that a Samoan would be a great person to represent this larger silhouette required for the gameplay of Tank," Rogers said.
"We did a ton of research on Samoans and Polynesian, looking for that right look," he added.
"Our Samoan Tattoo artist really got into it…traditional Samoan Tattoos can be very detailed; they tell a story when you look at them."
Photo: Blizzard
Mauga's introduction to overwatch, coincided with Blizzcon, an annual convention hosted by Blizzard in Irvine, California earlier this month. The event which attracts thousands of gamers, promotes the latest Blizzard games and a special panel was held to discuss Mauga.
Senior test analyst Foster Elmendorf told fans at Blizzcon the fighting prowess of Overwatch characters had to be distinct.
"We kept coming back to Mauga's personality," Elmendorf said.
"He's this big guy, he's smart, he's very aggressive…so how do we make him the hero that he's supposed to be?"
"How do we represent this Giant of a man? It came down to Giant guns."
Photo: Legend of Baron To'a
One central figure in the development of Mauga was New Zealand Tongan actor John Tui who voiced Mauga. Tui who portrayed Baron To'a in the 2020 movie The Legend of Baron To'a.
Narrative Designer Kyungseo Min praised Tui for bringing the character's personality to life, she said John Tui's cheerful and boisterous voice embodied the character they were looking for.
"Our team was going nuts, John Tui just delivered this beautiful performance," Min said.
"He's the life of the party, joyous guy but still has this dark edge.
"There are lines in the games that gave us chills, he really nails the part," she added.