Indonesian actor Joe Taslim has been made into a character for the battle royale online mobile game Free Fire.

The character, Jota, was released globally on March 16, becoming the first Indonesian playable character. 

The character is described as a parkour expert and stuntman, equipped with the “sustained raids” skill that enables him to heal himself for 40 points after performing a kill using an SMG or shotgun.

To mark the release of Jota, developer Garena is holding an in-game event that runs until March 31, where players can collect tokens from completing objectives that could be used to redeem the character for free.

Garena Free Fire producer Christian WIhananto said a local character had been the request of many Indonesian players, hence the creation of Jota.

“Garena Free Fire Indonesia is very pleased to be able to work with veteran actor Joe Taslim in the character’s creation. Through Jota, we hope to not only get closer to Indonesian players but also introduce Indonesia to Free Fire players around the globe,” he said in a statement.

Joe said he was very ecstatic to have his in-game likeness played by millions around the world, noting the immense popularity of Free Fire locally and globally.

“It’s a personal pride of mine to be able to become the model for the first local character. Hopefully, like me, every Indonesian Free Fire player can become proud of the addition of Jota.” 

Available on iOS and Android operating systems, Garena Free Fire was first launched in December 2017, quickly topping the download charts and becoming the fourth-most downloaded game in both app stores in 2018. 

The title has now surpassed 500 million downloads worldwide, surpassing $1 billion in revenue in 2019.

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