New Harry Potter game sparks boycott, divides fans over trans-inclusion
This week was set to be a time of celebration for fans of Harry Potter, with the release of the long-awaited and highly anticipated open world video game Hogwarts Legacy.
But the game’s impending release on February 10 has re-opened fault lines between the franchise’s author, JK Rowling, and her fans, and divided the gaming community.
Harry Potter fans have long clamoured for a fully developed role-playing game (RPG), and until now have largely had to contend themselves with the (admittedly enjoyable) Lego iterations.
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The first footage of gameplay from Hogwarts Legacy, from developer Avalanche and publisher Portkey, both of which are owned by Warner Bros, surfaced in 2018.
In 2022, the game – for PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch and Windows – was named the most anticipated of the year. Now, it’s finally here.
Set in the wizarding world 100 years before the events of the Harry Potter stories, the game allows players to create their own characters and do battle with the forces of evil in the familiar surrounds of Hogwarts, Hogsmeade and the forbidden forest.
To be fair, nothing. But the goblet of ire spawned by Rowling’s views on trans people (which, for the sake of simplicity, might be reduced to “trans women are not women”) has inevitably touched on its development.
In fact, Warner Bros was so concerned about the potential for a fan boycott that it issued a statement in September 2020 that made it clear the Scottish author “is not directly involved in the creation of the game”.
It did add, however,
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