Design Studio Turns 'Drag Race' Queens Into Fierce Video Game Fighters

These queens are ready to fight!

​Based in New York City and Montreal, a motion design studio named Rezonate created a brand-new video game concept titled Drag Race Fighter in celebration of Pride Month. This project includes fan-favorite RuPaul’s Drag Race queens such as Bianca Del Rio, Trixie Mattel, Katya, Jinkx Monsoon, Laganja Estranja, Sasha Velour, Marina Summers, and Xilhouete.

In an interview with Out, Rezonate shared more details about this project, as well as the studio’s connection to LGBTQ+ culture and RuPaul’s Drag Race.

Scroll through to read Out’s interview with Rezonate and see visuals from the Drag Race Fighter concept video game.

Out: What is the general idea behind this video game concept?

Rezonate: “We utilized the fighting game genre as a metaphor for the LGBTQ+ community’s ongoing battle for rights, equality, and acceptance, drawing on the common themes of struggle, resilience, and victory.”

“In fighting games, players confront various adversaries and challenges, ultimately overcoming them with skill, strategy, and determination. Similarly, the LGBTQ+ community faces numerous societal obstacles and prejudices in their pursuit of rights, equality, and acceptance.”

Out: What inspired you to do this project?

Rezonate: “We’ve always treated Pride Month as a chance for the team to have fun with animation and motion design. Last year we reimagined what it would look like if queer cartoon characters came together for a flag relay race.”

“This year, we wanted to pay tribute to the art form of drag by playing with the idea of how different queens can square off in a video game. But more than that quirky concept, we also wanted to pay attention to the actual human rights fight that trans folx and drag performers are experiencing.”

Out: How long have your team members been fans of ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’?

Rezonate: “Some of the members of the team have started watching Drag Race since season nine. Some have discovered it during the lockdown. And some have watched international drag shows headlined by some of the queens.”

Out: Why did you pick these particular queens for the project?

Rezonate: “It was more of a collaboration between the marketing and production team as personal fans wanted to feature their favorites from the US version of RuPaul’s Drag Race and the Drag Race Philippines show.”

Out: What is the ideal end goal for this project?

Rezonate: “As an animation and motion design studio, we wanted to highlight that creativity is not mutually exclusive. Even though we work with commercial brands relying on traditional commercial creative tools and skills, the more that we welcome and open our eyes and hearts toward divergent art forms like drag, the more our creative vocabulary expands.”

“As artists it’s easy for us to recognize and relate to the high level of artistry that these queens commit to their looks and performances, we want to share that drag can teach us creatives (and the community) so much about dedication, aesthetics, and fierceness, so that we can also shine our own cunningness, uniqueness, nerve, and talent.”