With the release of the highly anticipated video game Hogwarts Legacy, this week was set to be a time of excitement for fans of Harry Potter.
But the long-awaited game has reopened old wounds between the franchise's author, JK Rowling, and her fans.
Some fans on social media are calling for the game to be boycotted.
Others argue that buying or streaming the game doesn't necessarily mean they’re endorsing Rowling's views.
What is Hogwarts Legacy?
It's the latest spin-off item in the franchise launched by the mega-selling Harry Potter books written by Rowling.
Hogwarts Legacy is an open-world role-playing game that lets players experience life as a student at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the 1800s — almost 200 years before the events in the Harry Potter novels.
Players can "grow their magical abilities by mastering spells, brewing potions and taming fantastic beasts," Warner Bros Games said.
The game includes fan-favourite locations, such as the Forbidden Forest and Hogsmeade Village.
The Sorting Hat will allocate the player to a Hogwarts house — Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor or Ravenclaw.
This also gives the character access to that house's common room and house-exclusive quests.
Why is it being boycotted?
There have been calls for a boycott of the game due to JK Rowling's support of anti-transgender rhetoric and her notoriety as an anti-trans figure.
Here's a quick catch-up.
It started as many modern fights do — on Twitter.
In December 2019, Rowling tweeted support for a researcher who lost her job for expressing her opposition to a British government reform that would make it easier for trans people to change their legal sex.
Then, on June 6 the same year, Rowling retweeted an op-ed which used the term "people who menstruate" instead of "women".
She later said "the 'inclusive' language that calls female people 'menstruators' and 'people with vulvas' strikes many women as dehumanising and demeaning".
As the temperature of the debate rose, she tweeted: "I respect every trans person's right to live any way that feels authentic … I'd march with you if you were discriminated against on the basis of being trans. At the same time, my life has been shaped by being female. I do not believe it's hateful to say so."
But Rowling quickly became embroiled in a debate that has been framed as the trans lobby vs the TERFs (trans-exclusionary radical feminists).
On June 10, she published a blog addressing the criticism and abuse she was receiving.
Against this backdrop, a boycott of Hogwarts Legacy seemed inevitable.
Was JK Rowling involved in the video game?
No, she wasn't.
But that doesn't mean she won't profit from it.
The website of the game's developer, Portkey Games, states that although Hogwarts Legacy is an officially licensed game, Rowling herself was not involved in developing the story in the game.
In fact, Warner Bros was so concerned about the potential for a fan boycott that it issued a statement in September 2020 making it clear the Scottish author "is not directly involved in the creation of the game".
However, she will have received money from licensing her intellectual property to the developers.
Franchise's first transgender character introduced
In what seems like a subtle stab at Rowling's views, the game's developers introduced the wizarding world's first trans character: a witch named Sirona.
She explains how a goblin recognised her, while her old schoolmates "took a second to realise I [she] was actually a witch, not a wizard".
The game also allows players to combine masculine and feminine features in the character creation, letting them create their own transgender or non-binary characters.
Despite this, many social media users are calling for a boycott.
Is it possible to 'separate opinions from entertainment'?
In a tweet, one transgender woman says doing so "goes against" what the LGBTQ+ label represents.
Others raised the fact that Rowling would still profit from the game, no matter the public's reaction.
One Twitter user also labelled the introduction of a trans character as a "tokenistic" response to backlash over Rowling's views.
Boycott calls haven't dented game's sales
Even ahead of its official launch tomorrow, Hogwarts Legacy is already the best-selling game on several platforms.
It's no surprise, given the Harry Potter Wizarding World remains hugely successful, with a loyal fanbase.
Hogwarts Legacy is already the most downloaded game on the online distributor Steam.
On Wednesday, the servers for other Warner Brothers games experienced issues believed to be due to the sheer volume of gamers playing Hogwarts Legacy.
