Woke gamers have called for a boycott of the latest Harry Potter release because of JK Rowling’s stance on trans issues.
According to The Times:
Hogwarts Legacy is expected to be one of the blockbuster games of the year when it goes on sale on February 10.
However, the lead-up to its release has been marked by a boycott campaign, a ban on discussing the game on a prominent forum, actors facing a backlash and the sacking of an employee.
Warner Bros Games has gone out of its way to make the role-playing game inclusive, with players able to become trans wizards and witches.
Alan Tew, the game’s director, told the IGN website: “We know it’s a diverse audience. For us, it’s making sure that the audience who always dreamt of having this game had the opportunity to feel welcomed back.”
The game’s website states that “JK Rowling is not involved in the creation of the game” but that her team collaborated in its making.
For Rowling’s critics this is not enough, and prominent voices in the transgender community have urged people not to buy the game.
Jessie Earl, 30, a trans YouTuber and journalist who has 200,000 subscribers, provoked Rowling when she tweeted that “any support of something like Hogwarts Legacy is harmful”. The author accused her of “purethink” and compared her comment to book-burning.
Rowling angered her critics last year when she shrugged off the suggestion that she was losing fans over her stance. “I read my most recent royalty cheques and find the pain goes away pretty quickly,” she tweeted.
Will Overgard, a US gamer who works in the industry, urged a complete boycott. In a video that has been viewed two million times, he argued that “by supporting the title you are essentially aligning yourself with some really heinous transphobic values”.
When the voiceover cast was announced, the British actor Sebastian Croft, who features in the LGBT Netflix series Heartstopper, was forced to clarify his involvement after a backlash.
“I was cast in this project over three years ago, back when all Harry Potter was to me was the magical world I grew up with,” he said. “This was long before I was aware of JK Rowling’s views. I believe wholeheartedly that trans women are women and trans men are men.”
The actor Simon Pegg has also been cast in the game.
With emotions running high, one of the leading gaming forums, ResetEra, has banned discussion of Hogwarts Legacy, accusing Rowling of “pushing transphobic legislation”.
