The Shawnee Tribe is making waves in the gaming world, thanks to an exciting new collaboration with Firaxis Games. Chief Ben Barnes of the Shawnee Tribe, who grew up playing video games like the 1999 classic *Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri*, couldn’t believe it when the same game studio reached out to him nearly 25 years later. Firaxis had an ambitious idea: to include the Shawnee leader Tecumseh as a playable character in their upcoming game, *Civilization VII*.

“I thought, ‘This can’t be real,’” Barnes said. “Do they really want us involved in the next *Civilization* game?”

Since its debut in 1991, *Civilization* has become a beloved franchise, known for letting players guide civilizations from humble beginnings to powerful empires. Players choose leaders like Cleopatra or Gandhi and make decisions on war, trade, science, and culture. Over time, the game has sold over 70 million copies and is now considered the best-selling strategy game ever, according to Circana, which tracks U.S. game sales.

However, as society’s understanding of history and cultural representation evolved, the developers of *Civilization* have faced some criticism. The game’s core mechanics—exploration, expansion, and resource exploitation—have raised concerns about how it portrays colonization and Indigenous cultures. In 2010, plans to include a Pueblo leader were scrapped after objections from tribal leaders. Similarly, when the game added a Cree leader in 2018, it sparked public criticism in Canada.

Learning from those past experiences, Firaxis understood they needed to get it right when representing Tecumseh and the Shawnee people. This time, they reached out to Chief Barnes and the Shawnee Tribe for input.

For Barnes, this collaboration was more than just about putting Tecumseh in a game. It was a chance for the Shawnee people to see themselves reflected in popular culture and imagine their future.

“For us, it’s about expressing our cultural identity,” Barnes explained. “Why shouldn’t we be in video games? Why shouldn’t we be represented in all forms of media? We took this as an opportunity to let our star shine.”

The developers at Firaxis saw this partnership as an opportunity to improve how they represented Indigenous cultures. For the Shawnee Tribe, it was also a way to promote their history and language in a fresh, modern context. Series creator Sid Meier and other studio executives acknowledged that earlier versions of *Civilization* didn’t handle history with enough care, especially when it came to Indigenous groups and colonization.

This time around, Firaxis spent months working closely with the Shawnee people to ensure Tecumseh’s portrayal was authentic and respectful. Game producer Andrew Frederiksen emphasized that they wanted to create an accurate representation of Shawnee culture. Firaxis asked the tribe questions like what a Shawnee university or library might look like in the future and even worked with them to develop new Shawnee words for futuristic concepts.

Meier himself said the partnership felt special. During meetings with Chief Barnes, he learned about the challenges of preserving the Shawnee language. As part of their collaboration, Firaxis and its parent company 2K Games are donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to language revitalization programs for the Shawnee Tribe.

One of the most exciting parts of this project was casting Shawnee actor Dean Dillon as the voice of Tecumseh. When Dillon first auditioned for a role that involved speaking the Shawnee language, he didn’t know he’d be voicing one of history’s most famous Native American leaders. When he got the news, he was thrilled.

“I just gave it my best shot,” Dillon said. “And then I got a call saying they wanted me for Tecumseh. I couldn’t believe it—I was running around my house yelling!”

Seeing his voice paired with Tecumseh’s face in the game was surreal for Dillon. Tecumseh is remembered for uniting several Native American tribes in the early 19th century to resist U.S. expansion.

Though *Civilization* has always featured Indigenous leaders—starting with Montezuma of the Aztecs back in 1991—the developers admitted they hadn’t given much thought to how deeply players connected with history. Playable characters have included controversial figures like Josef Stalin and Mao Zedong, whose regimes were still fresh in people’s memories at the time.

“We didn’t realize people would take these characters so seriously,” Meier said. “We thought we were just giving players a chance to rewrite history. But we may have stretched things too far.”

With *Civilization VII*, Firaxis is making some big changes. The game will no longer use terms like “barbarians” for hostile non-playable characters. Instead, players will be able to establish diplomatic relationships with these groups.

As *Civilization* has grown beyond its original U.S. and European fanbase, players from all over the world have started wanting their own cultures represented in the game. The latest editions feature music and languages from many different civilizations—from the Māori of New Zealand to the Mapuche of South America.

According to Meier, being included in *Civilization* has become a “badge of honor” for many nations, with some even lobbying to be part of future editions.

The inclusion of Tecumseh in *Civilization VII* is not just another feature; it represents a meaningful step toward better representation of Indigenous cultures in mainstream media while celebrating the legacy and future of the Shawnee people.