J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” inspired a new video game called Hogwarts Legacy, which was developed by Warner Bros “fiction, which will be released this week, is releasing to both big sales and big controversy.
Why it matters: The game, which allows users to design their own wizard and progress through magic school, has become a flashpoint for debate among critics and fans on how to handle work affiliated with Rowling. Hogwarts Legacy
Since 2018, when she “liked” a tweet that stated that trans women are “guys in dresses,” the Potter author has been accused of transphobia, which she denies. The accusation first surfaced after she “liked” the message (per Politico, she said it was for research purposes). Since that time, she has made a number of statements regarding gender, and one of them was a sarcastic takedown of the notion that the phrase “those who menstruate” could refer to anyone other than women.
Even though there have been calls for a boycott of the game Hogwarts Legacy, it has nevertheless managed to top key PC and console bestseller lists weeks before it is even available for purchase, demonstrating that there is a high demand for pre-orders.
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The story that everyone is talking about is that, in a departure from the typical pre-release publicity, a lot of publications are including disclaimers in their Hogwarts Legacy reviews, while others are completely ignoring the game. (Warner Bros., just like any other publisher, decides which media sources receive review copies of their games.) “Access to the game is regulated thus far by Warner Bros.
IGN, which is the most popular video game media site in North America, ran a rave, but it included a sidebar labeled “concerning J.K. Rowling” that stated something inconclusive: “As critics, our job is to answer the question of whether or not we find Hogwarts Legacy to be fun to play and why; whether it’s ethical to play is a separate but still very important question.”
RockPaperShotgun, a gaming publication headquartered in the United Kingdom, is engaging in counter-programming by publishing a series of articles about magic-based video games. The articles have a “particular emphasis on magic games developed by trans developers.”
TheGamer, a publication based in Canada, is one of the media outlets that has decided not to review Hogwarts Legacy. According to the editor-in-chief of the journal, Stacey Henley, who spoke with Axios, the publication will not publish online instructions for the game, which would be a significant source of money. “This is not because there is any problem with royalties or financial support for J.K. Rowling. Rather, it is because we feel that the continued popularity of Harry Potter only provides her with a larger platform and further legitimizes her views, which we in turn feel are harmful to transgender people.”
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Rowling may benefit financially from the Hogwarts Legacy series, but she was not the author of these books. Avalanche Software, which is owned by Warner Bros., was the company that created it.
The frequently asked questions section of the game makes it clear that J.K. Rowling did not contribute to the development of the game in any way “However, critics have stated that Rowling would still benefit from the popularity of the book.
Following in the footsteps of performers from the Harry Potter movies, who have distanced themselves from Rowling and openly supported trans rights, an actor for the game has expressed his “very sorry to anyone wounded” by his presence in the game, saying he is “truly sorry to anyone harmed.”
In the meantime, a number of fans have stated that they will not purchase the game because of “the pain and difficulties in being a Harry Potter fan as of late,” as recently characterized by the Washington Post.
What they are arguing is that the real creators of the game have, for the most part, sidestepped directly addressing the Rowling controversy, despite the fact that there have been hints.
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The revelation that users will be able to create trans characters in the game by detaching their body and speech choices from gendered words during the character creation process has been interpreted as a subtly critical response to Rowling’s work.
The management at Warner Bros. has distanced themselves even farther. When the company’s president of gaming, David Haddad, was asked about possible boycotts in August, he told Axios: “We’re going to be very focused on the game that we produced and the wonderful job that the Avalanche studio has done.” He continued by saying, “We want anybody who loves this universe as much as they love these stories and as much as they love these characters.”
After a reporter for GameSpot, Jessie Earl, referred to support for the game as “damaging” in December, Rowling responded by acknowledging that there had been demands to boycott Hogwarts Legacy.
Rowling responded to the assertion by quoting it in a tweet and labeling it “purethink.” She also suggested that anyone who disagree with her should destroy libraries.
Since then, GameSpot has published an article written by Earl on Rowling’s perspectives on the game. It has not yet made a review of the game available on its website.
