For Harry Potter fans, the big day is here: after years in development (and to the delight of its fans), Hogwarts Legacy has finally launched today (February 10).
However, the game isn’t without its controversial side, and its release has been met with mixed reactions from former fans and trans charity groups.
Online and across social media, the debate about whether or not the game should be played – or, instead, boycotted – is raging.
Certain publications have chosen not to review the game, while influencers and Twitch streamers have opted to donate to trans- rights charities rather than create content around the game. The moderators of ResetEra, a worldwide games forum, have gone one further and banned all mention of Hogwarts Legacy.
The backlash is due to the Harry Potter franchise’s creator, JK Rowling, and previous comments she has made about the trans community, especially their access to female-only spaces – which has been branded hurtful and harmful by many of her critics, including LGBT organisation GLAAD.
Similarly, in a thinkpiece for GameSpot, Jessie Earl wrote that “if you are not willing to give up a piece of entertainment in solidarity against the harm JK Rowling continues to enact; then how can trans people feel assured you’ll be willing to fight for us in more important areas, such as anti-trans violence?”
Rowling herself has denied being transphobic. “I respect every trans person’s right to live any way that feels authentic and comfortable to them,” she said in a tweet. “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.”
Hogwarts Legacy is predicted to be one of 2023’s best-selling games, and has broken streaming records on Twitch, with views for game-related content reaching 1.3m at one point.
Though many reviews of the game touched on the controversy surrounding it, Hogwarts Legacy itself received broadly positive reviews online: the Standard praised its “breathtaking” worldbuilding, while Metro called it “the best Harry Potter video game ever made”.
However, the Guardian wrote that "Hogwarts Legacy derives its magic from its setting, not from its game design, which is competent but unspectacular”.
For its part, studio Avalanche Games – who helped develop Hogwarts Legacy – worked with JK Rowling’s team to create the game, though not with the author herself.
It also seems to have made a concerted effort to distance itself from Rowling’s previous comments on the trans community, building a version of Hogwarts that is ethnically diverse and features LGBT characters.
The studio made headlines this week for revealing that the game featured a trans character, albeit in a minor role: Sirona Ryan, the landlord of the wizarding pub The Three Broomsticks. However, even this has received pushback, with fans pointing to the character’s first name as proof that the game’s inclusivity isn’t genuine.
In addition, cast member Sebastian Croft, who recently appeared in Netflix’s hit LGBT+ show Heartstoppers, released a statement before the game’s launch, distancing himself from the project.
“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 wrote on Twitter.
“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… There is no LGB without the T.”
