Hogwarts Legacy Becomes Best Selling Game Despite Huge Boycott And Backlash

The highly anticipated video game of the year, Hogwarts Legacy has been released but unfortunately, the game has resurfaced some resentment and wounds between JK Rowling and her fans.

Prior to the game’s release, some fans and members of the LGBTQ+ community have been calling for a boycott of the game due to Rowling’s history of transphobic comments.

Those who are boycotting the game have stated on social media various times that those who play the game are transphobic.

buying hogwarts legacy =/ you’re a transphobe

but it does = you’re giving money to a transphobe who is actively using said money to harm trans people

if youre armed with that info, I’d hope you’d make the wiser and kinder choice and not passively support jk rowling

— Jazzy ????❄️ (@JazzysArt) February 7, 2023

A website was even created to search Twitch streamers and see if they’ve played the game. It has since been taken down.

One Twitch streamer was left in tears after many users flooded the chat of GirlfriendReviews for playing the game, calling the streamers bigots and other cruel names.

Others have argued that streaming or buying the game doesn’t mean that they’re supportive of Rowling’s views, especially since she had no involvement in the game’s creation.

Warner Bros released a statement back in 2020 and made it clear that Rowling was “not directly involved in the creation of the game.”

What Is Hogwarts Legacy?

Hogwarts Legacy is an open-world role-playing game that allows players the chance to experience life as a student at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the late 1800s.

Iconic locations like the Forbidden Forest, the Great Hall, and Hogsmead Village are part of the game and players can be sorted within the four houses.

The game does introduce a trans character by the name of Sirona Ryan. In the game, she explains that a goblin recognised her as a witch while her old classmates “took a second to realise I [she] was actually a witch, not a wizard.”

And like with Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, this game allows players to combine feminine and masculine features which lets them create their own non-binary or transgender character.

However, this move was seen as “tokenism” by some Twitter users as a response by the game developers to Rowling’s views.

the trans character in #HogwartsLegacy is the definition of tokenism.

— ֆʟօǟռɛ-ʟʏֆɮɛȶɦ 2000 (@SloaneFragment) February 6, 2023

Dear people adapting works,

Trans people do not want to be added to a work based on the works and settings of notable bigots. You aren’t balancing the scales you are tokenizing us. You can’t pay for the sins of the author in tokens. Jk stopping would be cool though.

— Sammie????️‍???? (@BoredisSam) February 7, 2023

Best-selling Game

Despite the massive controversy and boycotts of the game, it’s become the best-selling game on several platforms. The game is even the most downloaded game on Steam.