• Ubisoft changed the birthdate of a new Rainbow Six Siege character after backlash over its link to the Christchurch terror attack. 
• The character, Hāpai “Rauora” Iwini, now has a birthdate of May 11, following the “oversight”. 
• Fans were divided, calling the original date “tasteless” and questioning if it was a mistake or joke. 

A popular shooting-related video game has changed the birthdate of its newest character, a Kiwi woman, after it originally shared the same date as the Christchurch terror attack. 

The developer behind the video game, Ubisoft, said the original date was an “oversight” and has apologised. 

“We apologise for the oversight and have taken immediate steps to change the birth date,” said an Ubisoft spoksperson. 

“The change has been made on the game’s website and will be implemented in the game via an update on March 4.” 

Hāpai “Rauora” Iwini was revealed as the latest character in the game Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege on Monday. 

Rauora’s birthdate has been changed to May 11. 

A Ubisoft spokesperson said they took “immediate action” to change the character’s birthdate. 

The change had been made to the game’s website and Rauora’s birthdate would be amended in next month’s update. 

Hāpai 'Rauora' Iwini originally had a birthdate of March 15. It has now been changed to May 11. 

Earlier, fans labelled the original birthdate as “tasteless”, “incompetent” and “ignorant” after a flurry of excitement over being represented on the world stage in an atypical fashion. 

A short preview of her character showed her bearing a moko kauae and her biography made references to her “whakapapa” and said she grew up playing rugby before joining the New Zealand military. 

Fans were divided on social media on whether the birthdate was the result of twisted humour or a genuine mistake, more so given the character hails from Christchurch. 

“It’s so blatant I can’t help but feel this is some writer’s idea of a ‘joke’,” one said. 

“There [are] 365 days in the year, and you chose the day of New Zealand’s worst mass shooting to be the birth date of a character? Who actually signs off on this?” another wrote. 

“I’ve played the game since release and was so excited to see a Māori operator announcement today, but I have no clue what Ubisoft was thinking using March 15 as Rauora’s birth date.” 

Some believed the birthdate could have been chosen by AI, while others blamed “incompetency” on an “overworked intern”. 

The biography also included many other details about her life, including that she hails from the Rārata iwi and was a captain in the New Zealand military. 

Her biography also said she is a “lifelong practitioner of kaupapa Māori”. 

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege was released in 2015 and attracts thousands of players online. 

It is a tactical shooter game where each player can assume an attacking or defending role and complete tasks such as defusing a bomb or rescuing a hostage.