Fortnite Virtual Marae

Māui Studios Aotearoa Ltd created a Virtual Marae experience within Fortnite for Christchurch City Council as an interactive activation for the Tīrama Mai festival in Ōtautahi Christchurch - a free, Council-produced Matariki festival providing opportunities to learn and engage with Puanga Matariki and Māori creation stories (Christchurch City Council, 2025). Adapted from Māui Studios' wider Māui Virtual Marae framework into a Matariki-specific experience, it combined a live booth with large LED screens and physical controllers for 2–6 on-site players with support for up to 50 players online in a single Fortnite session.

The project explored a genuinely new question: can a Marae - one of the most culturally significant environments in te ao Māori - exist meaningfully inside a global gaming platform? Rather than placing Māori aesthetics onto a Fortnite island, the studio designed an experience that held the kaupapa of the Marae - a place of gathering, learning, and cultural exchange - within an interactive context accessible to a diverse public.

The challenge operated on two levels at once. The first was cultural: a Marae is not a building or a visual style but a place governed by tikanga, relationships, and the mana of the people who belong to it. The second was contextual: the platform's competitive character sits in tension with the relational nature of a Marae, and the activation had to communicate tikaka, marae space, māra kai, and the whetū of Matariki accessibly and memorably for a busy festival audience.

• Core Deliverables: Live festival-booth concept with large LED display and player controllers; Matariki-themed virtual marae built in Fortnite (tukutuku panel styling, posters, voice and audio, approved Matariki character assets); 2–6 in-person players plus up to 50 players online; cultural QA review; published Fortnite island (Island Code 4815-1223-7172)
• Audience: Tīrama Mai festival attendees - tamariki, rangatahi, whānau and the wider public, on-site and online
• Format: Live interactive festival booth plus an online-accessible Fortnite island, built in Unreal Engine and UEFN
• Event Context: Tīrama Mai 2025 (18–22 June 2025), across The Arts Centre, Christchurch Art Gallery, and nearby central-city locations
• Cultural Review: Joseph Hullen (Ngāi Tahu)
• Key Requirements: Cultural authenticity, public accessibility, hybrid in-person and online play, festival-ready booth simplicity, age-appropriate engagement
• Service Connection: Unreal Engine and UEFN, Immersive Design, Cultural storytelling, Public engagement, Visual Design

Māui Studios designed a Fortnite island that held the spatial and relational logic of the Marae - a place of arrival, gathering, learning, and connection - without claiming to replicate a specific marae or replace the real thing, using Māori architectural references and spatial organisation to create a place recognisably grounded in te ao Māori. Critically, the experience retained the fun and playability of Fortnite rather than reducing the platform to a static cultural display: players were gifted abilities by different Atua and given the autonomy to explore the space using those powers, so the game engine became an access tool - a way to bring people into a Māori cultural space who might not otherwise encounter one.

Because players moved through the space with that freedom, the activation did more than present a Marae - it surfaced questions about how a marae is perceived and used in a digital, game-based setting. Observing how people chose to behave, interact, and treat the space when given autonomy gave Māui Studios and the partners a rare opportunity to see how a Marae is engaged with under these conditions.

Delivered as a staffed booth (LED screens and controllers) plus an online release, the experience suited a high-footfall festival while extending beyond the event as a living digital asset. Fortnite Creative supports configurable sessions of up to 100 players, so the 50-player online target sits comfortably within range (Epic Games, n.d.). Cultural integrity was handled through review: the Matariki content was reviewed by Joseph Hullen of Ngāi Tahu, with the experience grounded in Te Papa's published knowledge of the Matariki stars (Te Papa Tongarewa, n.d.).

Intended Outcomes

• Increase public engagement with Matariki by placing cultural learning inside a playable virtual marae rather than a static display
• Help tamariki and rangatahi build familiarity with basic marae concepts, the Matariki stars, and associated knowledge through interactive exploration
• Create a festival activation that works both as an on-site shared experience and as an online-accessible digital asset
• Establish a reusable virtual cultural environment expandable for future civic, educational, or iwi-led activations

Broader Impact

• Opens a conversation about gaming platforms as cultural infrastructure, not just entertainment
• Shows a virtual marae functioning as a civic education tool rather than a digital novelty, aligned with the educational purpose of a free, city-wide public programme (Christchurch City Council, 2025)
• Created an unexpected observational dimension - letting players engage a Marae with full autonomy revealed how people perceive, use, and treat a culturally significant space in a game setting
• Positions Māui Studios for further public-sector and festival activations blending creative technology, cultural storytelling, and community engagement

• Expanded educational content on individual Matariki stars
• More detailed marae protocol interactions
• Facilitator-led school or museum versions
• Additional seasonal or iwi-specific themed reskins
• Repeat use across future Matariki and civic festival programmes
• A curriculum-linked version for use in schools as an immersive learning environment

• Christchurch City Council. (2025, May 9). Lots on offer at Tīrama Mai 2025. Newsline. https://www.newsline.ccc.govt.nz/news/story/lots-on-offer-at-tirama-mai-2025
• Epic Games. (n.d.). Mode settings in Fortnite Creative. https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/en-us/fortnite/mode-settings-in-fortnite-creative
• Te Papa Tongarewa. (n.d.). Ngā whetū o Matariki | The stars of Matariki. https://www.tepapa.govt.nz/discover-collections/read-watch-play/matariki-maori-new-year/what-and-who-matariki/stars-matariki