“Hogwarts Legacy”, The Video Game that Seeks to Transgress the Legacy of “Harry Potter”

On February 10, “Hogwarts Legacy” was released for the next-generation Xbox and PlayStation consoles. Sales of this video game made by Avalanche Software have been very generous despite the boycott that many people tried to do. At the moment, the debate on the video game has faced fans and detractors of JK Rowling and political correctness.

What is the "Hogwarts Legacy" About?

The video game is based on the premise of the universe that JK Rowling created with the "Harry Potter" and "Fantastic Animals" sagas. In the argument, the story is set in the last decade of the 19th century.

Players will guide a young wizard who receives a letter from Hogwarts to improve his skill in ancient magic. He, as the owner of an ancient secret, must choose between keeping it or using his abilities to tempt himself with perverse magic. Everyone can decide if they want to be a villain or a hero.

Why Boycott the Game?

Since 2020, the dissonance between JK Rowling and her later work, which came in different formats, has grown. The controversy started from the statements that the writer has given from her Twitter account and in some published articles.

Such comments have caused a large part of her public to call her transphobic or TERF (Transexluent Radical Feminist) after she questioned an article that used the phrase “menstruating people”. His response to this headline was with an ironic tone, when he wanted to correct it, he mentioned that what they were referring to was women. The fact generated a debate that is still in force today and from which she still continues to defend herself.

The scandal occurred in confinement due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, all its subsequent production began to suffer a boycott to the point that several actors from "Harry Potter" came out before public opinion to reject JK Rowling's statements. It is then that we come to “Hogwarts Legacy”, a video game based on the writer's universe that has also generated controversy and calls for boycotts.

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JK Rowling's Interference in the Video Game

Although she is not involved in the making of this video game, the actual creators cannot escape the writer's stamp. The plot takes spells, schools or characters that have a lot to do with what she wrote. So yes, surely she is receiving royalties from the sales, although it has not been revealed under what terms.

No more for the use of the franchise brand, it has benefits. Due to contractual issues, it is also likely that she was aware of the video game in advance so that she could have assigned the respective copyrights.

The foregoing is the main reason why several transactivist people have called for them not to buy "Hogwarts Legacy" , since they would be contributing to swell the pocket of the author who they point to for discrimination.

Avalanche Software's Play

To avoid boycotts and, incidentally, give back with representation to the trans community, "Hogwarts Legacy" has a transgender character, which would be the first in any product in the "Harry Potter" saga. This is Sirona Ryan, a Hogwarts student who works in the tavern.

In the video game she has little interference and the dialogue that introduces her as a transgender woman when she talks about her former colleagues is more of an insinuation. “It took them a second to realize that I was a witch and not a wizard,” she says.

Given this, members of the LGBTI community have criticized that the role of the character is so superficial in the development of the video game. Many comments suggest that the study only included this character to get rid of the JK Rowling controversy for a monetary purpose.

The truth is that "Hogwarts Legacy" is currently the video game of the month despite the attempted boycott. As the players advance in the plot, details will be revealed that divert or direct the story to the story arc that was born with the today controversial figure of JK Rowling.

For the 'fandom' the expectations were exceeded. At last they fulfill the dream of living, even through a screen, the reality of what their favorite characters lived in books and movies. Now they are the ones who have control and command within the video game.