"Hogwarts Legacy" Controversy

Even two weeks before the game’s official debut on store shelves, Hogwarts Legacy, by Avalanche Studios is already shaping up to be one of the most controversial video game releases in the past decade. Many people are looking to boycott the film due to various comments made by J.K Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter books and the creator of the Harry Potter franchise. 

In June and July of 2020, Rowling issued tweets that many considered to be transphobic. On June 6, 2020, Rowling wrote an 11-tweet-long post on Twitter in which she stated that  “erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives.”  On June 10, 2020, she posted the tweet that garnered her the most backlash—a link to her own personal blog post tilted “TERF (Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist) Wars.” Rowling refused to apologize for her comments, and in July of 2020, she made a similar series of tweets criticizing what she believed to be an overabundance of the use of hormone therapy amongst children, likening it to “a new version of conversion therapy for young gays.” In September of 2020, Rowling worsened matters when she released a book titled Troubled Blood, which centered around a cisgender serial killer who posed as a woman. The book was criticized for its supposed villainization of trans people.

Now, two and a half years later, many people are citing Rowling’s actions as a reason to boycott Avalanche Studios’ upcoming release. The developers behind the title, which began development before J.K Rowling’s comments, have tried to distance themselves from the creator of the franchise, claiming that they never worked directly with Rowling in the production of the project. However, this hasn’t stopped fans from being concerned about Rowling potentially attaining royalties from the profits of Hogwarts Legacy. It is estimated that Rowling makes between $50 to $100 million dollars a year based off of royalties from Harry Potter merchandise alone, and there has been no official statement made by Avalanche Studios in regards to whether or not Rowling was paid any kind of licensing fee or is making profit off the new game.

Despite the talks of boycotts, Hogwarts Legacy is still looking to have a massive release weekend. It is the #1 Most Wishlisted Game on Steam, ranks in the top 4 best selling games on Steam before its official launch, and is in the top 10 of sales on the Playstation Store. 

Hogwarts Legacy is set to release on Playstation 5, Playstation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Steam on February 10, 2023, and it is planned to release later on Nintendo Switch on July 25th, 2023.

By Kailen Hicks