Video game forum Resetera is banning all discussion of Hogwarts Legacy, the upcoming open world Harry Potter action-RPG in development at Avalanche Software. Hogwarts Legacy has been the source of much controversy since its announcement. While there are certainly many who are excited about the game, others have called for boycotts in response to Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling's transphobic comments.
J.K. Rowling's transphobic comments are part of the reason why Resetera initially banned discussion of Hogwarts Legacy promotional material (trailers, gameplay videos, etc.) In 2021. The forum also cited past comments made by former Hogwarts Legacy lead designer Troy Leavitt, who uploaded YouTube videos that seemingly took a pro-Gamergate stance. Now that the game is nearing release, Resetera mods have decided to ban all discussion of Hogwarts Legacy period.
This was announced on the Resetera site by general manager B-Dubs. B-Dubs explained that the mods determined that not only were J.K. Rowling's views bigoted, but that she was "pushing, in her position as a wealthy and famous individual, for legislation that will hurt trans people." B-Dubs added that Rowling uses the money and influence gained from Harry Potter to push transphobic legislation, so there will be no discussion of Hogwarts Legacy allowed on the forum at all.
Harry Potter was once a highly-regarded franchise, with billion-dollar box offices and record-breaking book sales. Unfortunately, J.K. Rowling's repeated transphobic comments have cast a dark cloud over Harry Potter's legacy, and this has seemingly hurt the franchise's drawing power. The latest entry in the movie franchise, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, failed to generate much interest from audiences, making it the lowest-grossing film in the entire Harry Potter franchise to date. There were plans to produce at least five Fantastic Beasts films, but now the film franchise's future has been called into question.
While there are calls to boycott Hogwarts Legacy, it does seem unlikely that the game will run into the same financial trouble as other Harry Potter projects have in recent years. Even with boycotts and being surrounded by controversy, Hogwarts Legacy stands a good shot at being the best-selling new game release of the year, especially if Call of Duty skips 2023 as has been rumored. Hogwarts Legacy pre-order sales are strong, indicating that there are still many fans who are anxiously awaiting their chance to play an open world Harry Potter game despite Rowling's comments and other controversies surrounding the project.
Hogwarts Legacy launches February 10 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X with PS4 and Xbox One versions coming April 4, and a Switch port dropping July 25.
Source: Resetera