13 Dec 2021

The gaming industry's wahine Maori pioneer

From Nine To Noon, 10:05 am on 13 December 2021
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Photo: Supplied

Maru Nihoniho is the first Māori woman to run her own gaming company. 

She's the brains behind Metia Interactive, which creates educational, interactive games, with Māori stories and language at their heart. 

A pioneer of New Zealand's gaming industry, Maru first entered the industry in 2003, with the launch of her game Cube, for PlayStation Portable. 

Since then she's worked on countless projects, and picked up many accolades along the way, including being named as one of the World's Top 50 Women in Technology by Forbes magazine.

But success was hard won over many years. She came to the industry with no real experience in developing a game, armed only with a vision and a lot of optimism.