Hogwarts Legacy (2023) - Harry Potter
The controversy surrounding the Harry Potter franchise as a whole can encapsulated by the release of this game, developed by Avalanche Software and published by Warner Bros. Games. Beginning in late 2019 and then further accelerating in June 2020, book author J.K. Rowling would go on to Tweet against some radical trans-activist viewpoints primarily that of diminishing the importance of biological sex. Immediately, the author was accused of being transphobic and a barrage of harassment was sent her way; being a staunch feminist, Rowling was appalled that swaths of her audiences would rather support trans-identifying individuals at the expense of women's safety and political concerns. So given that the conversation had amounted to little more than screaming matches, once news of a game based on Rowling's IP started to surface many were adamant on boycotting the title. Come release of the game, however, the title became the best-selling game of its opening week and would end up earning the title of best-selling game for the whole year; proving that audiences just wanted to play a game rather than be involved in a movement. There are several possible explanations for the exemplary commercial success of the title's launch, most pressing of all being that some think what Rowling said was not in fact egregious since the biological reality of both sexes dictates many important facets of life. An important thing to note regarding the game is Rowling had no hand in its creation, pointing to another reason why players didn't care for the boycott on top of the hate brigades detractors of Rowling's work reinvigorated. Ultimately, it likely wouldn't have made a difference if Rowling had been involved in the project given that an upcoming Harry Potter television series, which she does have a hand in, still garners excitement from fans who either increasingly agree with Rowling or are more adept at separating the art from the artist.
Sources Used
Evgeny Obedkov. “Hogwarts Legacy Breaks into Top 10 Steam Titles by Concurrent Players, Becomes Biggest HP Game Launch of All Time | Game World Observer.” Game World Observer, 13 Feb. 2023, gameworldobserver.com/2023/02/13/hogwarts-legacy-top-10-most-played-steam-biggest-hp-game-launch. Accessed 30 Nov. 2024.
Gardner, Abby. “A Complete Breakdown of the J.K. Rowling Transgender-Comments Controversy.” Glamour, 3 Sept. 2024, www.glamour.com/story/a-complete-breakdown-of-the-jk-rowling-transgender-comments-controversy. Accessed 30 Nov. 2024.
Hingh, Valentijn De. “I’m Trans and I Understand JK Rowling’s Concerns about the Position of Women. But Transphobia Is Not the Answer.” The Correspondent, 18 Sept. 2020, thecorrespondent.com/702/im-trans-and-i-understand-jk-rowlings-concerns-about-the-position-of-women-but-transphobia-is-not-the-answer. Accessed 30 Nov. 2024.
Kain, Erik. “The ‘Hogwarts Legacy’ J.K. Rowling Boycotts Were a Mistake.” Forbes, 8 Feb. 2023, www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2023/02/08/hogwarts-legacy-breaks-major-twitch-record-despite-boycotts-over-jk-rowling/. Accessed 30 Nov. 2024.
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