pukunui
Legend
It's not about copyright. It's about cultural appropriation. These taonga (treasures) have lots of meaning and history for the descendants of the people who created them. To be inspired by them and create original works in the game would be one thing, but to literally copy real existing taonga, stripping them of all their meaning, and use them in a fantasy game is disrespectful and wrong.
The company has blamed former employees for not following the proper processes, but that sounds a bit like they're trying to save face. They ought to have known better and caught it before the game went live.
