In a world where stereotypes are ubiquitous, Microsoft accomplished something relatively uncommon when rebooting the 1994 game, Killer Instinct, on Xbox One. Rather than enlisting a group of arbitrary persons to develop the design for Native American character Chief Thunder, Shannon Loftis, the general manager of Microsoft Global Games Publishing, decided to bring in the real deal.
From the Native American Nez Perce tribe, one local to the Washington Microsoft studios, came Josiah “Black Eagle” Pinkum. Pinkum offered his own insight on how Chief Thunder should be designed, suggesting a culturally heroic war hero. Pinkum was able to make several comments on the blueprints that Microsoft had put forward, thus producing the most genuine character possible.
It’s certainly refreshing to see these changes coming from a large company like Microsoft, even in fighting games like Killer Instinct, which are so eccentric in nature. It illustrates that we can take steps towards better representation in video games for all minorities. “We’ve had missteps,” Loftis admits when asked about characters from other franchises. “It’s easy to look back at Microsoft games that had characters that should not have been released. We have a general intention to do the right thing.”
Hearing this news makes me want to go back and give Killer Instinct a try on my Xbox One. How about you? What do you think of the Chief Thunder character?
Source: VentureBeat
Tristan was a regular ICXM contributor between 2015–2017, publishing 51 articles across opinion pieces, game reviews, Windows and PC, and Xbox news. Their work focused on hands-on reviews, platform commentary, and breaking-news reporting during the Xbox One X launch year and Microsoft’s wider Play Anywhere / UWP gaming initiative. They post on X as @tbogost.