“The Award-Winning “The Pirate Queen” with Lucy Liu Sails Onto Meta Quest Headsets Today”

Eloise Singer was interviewed by Hayden Dingman at Meta for the Meta Quest Blog. Read an extract below, and be sure to read the whole interview at the link at the bottom of this article.

Who was the most powerful pirate in history? Blackbeard? Captain Kidd? Bartholomew Roberts?

Wrong. In the early 1800s, a woman named Cheng Shih took over her late husband’s fleet in the South China Sea, commanding two dozen ships—and presiding over a 400-strong fleet, consisting of around 70,000 pirates. Taking on rivals like the East India Company and the ships of the Great Qing, Cheng Shih rose through the ranks to become one of the most successful and revered pirates in history.

Now, The Pirate Queen: A Forgotten Legend lets you step into Cheng Shih’s shoes on Meta Quest 2 and 3. Discover her remarkable tale in this narrative adventure, as Cheng Shih (voiced by Lucy Liu) ascends to power on the night her husband dies. The award-winning The Pirate Queen: A Forgotten Legend is just the start of this journey, with a TV series, graphic novel, film, and more on the way.

We sat down with Eloise Singer, the creative director and executive producer behind this cross-media effort, to talk about how The Pirate Queen: A Forgotten Legend got its start, how Singer’s film background influenced her work in VR, how Lucy Liu came on board, the use of nails versus dovetail joints in shipbuilding, and more.

Read on for the fascinating story behind The Pirate Queen: A Forgotten Legend.

Who was the titular Pirate Queen? How did you first learn about her story?

Eloise Singer: The Pirate Queen: A Forgotten Legend is based on the true story of Cheng Shih, a woman in the 1800s who married the leader of a fleet. When he mysteriously died, she took over and commanded about 70,000 men during the lead up to the Opium Wars.

A friend of mine told me the story. She said, "Did you know the most powerful pirate in history was a woman in 19th century China?" I was amazed, thinking, "That can't be true, right?” But I found myself researching further, and the more I learned about Cheng Shih’s life, the more fascinated I was.

And she was truly phenomenal. Not only did Cheng Shih reign over the South China Sea, but she laid down laws for her crew that enforced equality between men and women which, for the time, was unprecedented.

To think that there's a woman who started from humble beginnings as a flowerboat girl and ended up commanding one of the most powerful fleets in history really got me thinking—why aren't we hearing more about her story in history books, films, or games?

You come from a film background, correct? What drew you to VR for this story?

ES: Yes, I started at Pinewood Studios, where I worked on various film and television productions such as The Crown, Ready Player One, and Murder on the Orient Express. Then in 2017, I chose to take the leap and establish my own production company, Singer Studios. I wanted to create a company that would empower the next generation of creatives to tell the boldest stories across film, tv, and games.

It was meeting Dave Raynard, the former head of Sony’s Playstation Studios in London that sparked the idea of telling The Pirate Queen in VR. My company was already developing The Pirate Queen as a film but when the pandemic hit, the film had to be put on hold.

So instead we started thinking “What if we made this as a VR game?” It would allow players to literally step into Cheng Shih’s shoes and challenge them to see if they have what it takes to become the most powerful pirate in history.

The more we thought about it, the more fun it sounded. So Dave and I teamed up with the wonderful German-Chinese writer Maja Bodenstein to write the script, and collaborated with a fantastic VR producer Siobhan McDonnell, and now years later, here we are, about to release a critically acclaimed VR game voiced by Lucy Liu. It’s extraordinary to think about what we’ve achieved.

How does your experience of storytelling in VR differ from film? Any lessons you learned or surprises you’d like to pass on?

ES: I learnt a lot of lessons! People will laugh reading this but I honestly didn’t know what Unreal Engine was when we first started making The Pirate Queen.

What I’ve realized is film and VR are two completely different worlds. The biggest lesson I learnt was: Surround yourself with people who know more than you, never be afraid to ask questions and to be really honest about when you don’t understand something. Everyone's an expert in their field, so lean on their knowledge and experience—sharing insight and helping one another is what being a team is all about.

We started the creation of the script through a writers’ room, which is really unique to game development but very common in film. It was fun recognizing that we could write our own rulebook in terms of how we wanted to make the game. That’s something I’d encourage every studio to think about—to understand what works for you as creatives, rather than stick to prescribed ways of doing things that might not actually align with what you’re making.

What makes telling The Pirate Queen in VR so special is that there's no other situation where you can experience it. When you put on a headset, you are literally transported to a 19th century pirate ship, which is something that you can't do in the real world. I think that's the magic, not just for VR but also for games, because you’re being transported to another time and place.

On a more technical level, VR allows us to incorporate features such as spatial sound, eye-tracking, and haptics, enhancing the sense of presence and interactivity for players. This means that it actually feels like you’re throwing, climbing, rowing, fishing and picking things up in the game, even though you might be standing in your living room.

As VR is still comparatively new as a form of gaming, we did a lot of iterations on our mechanics to ensure we were “finding the fun.” Our rowing and climbing mechanics were definitely some of the hardest to crack, but they’ve also been the most rewarding—and as a result, the game has now become a bit of a workout! We joke that you can get #PirateFit as well as becoming leader of the most powerful fleet in history.

Lucy Liu both voices the Pirate Queen and is involved as an executive producer. How did that come about?

ES: Indeed, Lucy Liu is both the voice of The Pirate Queen and an Executive Producer. We reached out to her team and spoke with them about the project. Like me, Lucy hadn’t heard about Cheng Shih before, and was fascinated about her story and how she became the most powerful pirate leader in history. After discussions with her team, sharing project materials, and talking through our intentions for authenticity and historical accuracy, Lucy decided to come on board.

Working together has been an absolute pleasure. Lucy’s formidable and truly brought the role of Cheng Shih to life in a way that I genuinely could never have imagined. I’m excited to be working with her to expand the story into a graphic novel, film, and TV series.

The store page mentions that the game is good for history lovers. Did you work with consultants or historians on this project? How much artistic license is required for a project like this?

ES: Absolutely, ensuring historical accuracy was a top priority throughout our project. We threw ourselves into research, enlisting the expertise of historical researchers, sensitivity checkers, and fact-checkers. Their ability to access literature in both Mandarin and English was great—it provided us with a really comprehensive understanding of the materials to ensure we were creating a world that felt authentic.

Our team collaborated closely with our researchers and our brilliant writer, Maja Bodenstein, who played a key role in spearheading the accuracy element of the game. I remember when initially designing the ship, we included nails as we believed they were standard materials for shipbuilding. However, when checking this with our researchers, we learned that in China at the time, dovetail joints were commonly used instead of nails. This prompted our artists to meticulously remove every single nail from the ship and replace them with dovetail joints.

It's a wonderful illustration of how assumptions can lead us astray and the importance of working with experts to ensure authenticity, since the smallest details make all the difference.

The Pirate Queen: A Forgotten Legend is only part of the Pirate Queen story, from what I understand. There’s a graphic novel, a film, and a TV series in the works as well. Can you talk a little about that aspect?

ES: The game’s narrative designer, Maja Bodenstein, had the stroke of genius to set the game on the night of Cheng Shih's accession, which not only keeps the stakes high for players but also shines a spotlight on a pivotal moment in Cheng Shih's story. As a result, there’s so much still to discover with Cheng Shih’s story. This really is just the beginning.

The plan has always been to expand The Pirate Queen into a franchise as a graphic novel, film, and TV series. It’s been in the works for years so it’s exciting to be able to finally talk about it! I believe we’re one of the first studios to be launching a major franchise using VR first—to my knowledge, it hasn’t been done before. It feels pretty groundbreaking and I hope that we see more VR games develop into film and TV projects in the future.

What’s next for you post-launch? Anything exciting in the works?

ES: Loads! We’re launching The Pirate Queen: A Forgotten Legend podcast, which will delve behind the scenes, give an insight into how we made the game, and offer a glimpse into what the future holds for the franchise.

We’re also publishing The Pirate Queen graphic novel—I can’t wait for readers to learn even more about Cheng Shih’s story.

We’ve also got an investigative documentary series coming out on Sky in the UK on April 6 called Inheritance, which I directed and produced, and I’m just about to start working on a new film. So there’s lot of exciting projects in the works.

Anything else you’d like to share with our readers?

ES: I’d love to mention why it’s so important that we make games like this.

Our goal has been to shine a light on Cheng Shih's extraordinary journey. It's been about challenging stereotypes and celebrating the accomplishments of trailblazing leaders like The Pirate Queen who have made a huge impact, but often don't get the recognition they deserve.

I’m proud to have made a game that doesn’t rely on traditional hand-to-hand combat. Instead, we set out to create an experience that’s accessible for those age 13 and up, one that parents would be excited about their kids playing. With this in mind, the gameplay focuses on stealth and exploration—players row past enemies undetected, scale rival ships, and uncover the forgotten tale of Cheng Shih through exploring intricate moonlit cabins.

If I was growing up now and I heard that the most powerful pirate in history was a woman, it would completely shift my perspective about gender roles and dynamics. So, I truly hope that this game inspires the next generation and shows them that there are really incredible women out there, and this is one of them.

It's been a wonderful journey bringing her story to life, and we can't wait for everyone to play it.

Read the whole interview here.