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Hogwarts Legacy State of Play revives the controversy of J. K. Rowling and Harry Potter

Well that didn’t take long (pic: WB Games)

Amid the excitement at Hogwarts Legacy’s return, people are quick to remember about its relation to J. K. Rowling.

After nearly two years of silence, Hogwarts Legacy is re-emerging with its very own State of Play this week, which promises to finally show some new gameplay footage.

However, it’s not the only thing to have cropped back up. The game is mired in controversy due to frequent and unpopular comments by series creator J. K. Rowling about transgender people.

While this controversy never went away, Hogwarts Legacy dropping out of the spotlight for a couple years meant the debate about whether people are right to support its release quietened down too.

At the time of writing, a quick browse through the top related tweets shows, amid general excitement for the game’s return, the same statements being made when it was announced: people asking others not to support a bigot and… people saying they don’t care about the controversy.

Mfs really tryna cancel Harry Potter and hogwarts legacy because of something JK Rowling said … bro who cares

— Qursen (@Qursen) March 14, 2022

They’re releasing Hogwarts Legacy gameplay on the 17th !!! pic.twitter.com/2RQBMrATXj

— 🌙 (@boxxjelly) March 14, 2022

Ok so since this Hogwarts Legacy gameplay showcase is happening this Thursday I am once again throwing this into the conversation around the game.

Allow the character creator to enable people to make trans/ gender neutral characters.

— Eth 🧭 (@hope2hako) March 14, 2022

If you wanna buy that new HP game that’s your business but don’t be out here clowning queer people for pointing out that you’d be supporting #that lady for getting it, they’re just stating a fact and if you feel some type of way that’s a you problem

— Fernando 👑 🏳️‍🌈 (@fersama10) March 14, 2022

Very surprising to see two State of Play streams in successive weeks. Hyped to see Hogwarts Legacy gameplay though.

Hopefully this leads to a 2022 release, but I fear they want to show how well the game is progressing before pushing it to early 2023.pic.twitter.com/ZnaWJwMYcF

— 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Pure Dead Gaming (@PureDeadGaming) March 14, 2022

Here is a casual reminder that if you buy Hogwarts Legacy, buy a ticket to see Fantastic Beasts 3, buy any Harry Potter book, or buy any Wizarding World merch, you are directly supporting an ongoing campaign of violence against trans people and you suck.

— Dot Maetrix (@DotMaetrix) March 14, 2022

For as much as some fans don’t care about Rowling’s views, Warner Bros. itself clearly thinks differently. Around the time of the game’s announcement, it stated that Rowling had no direct involvement with Hogwarts Legacy’s development, no doubt in an attempt to placate those threatening to boycott the game. Although this completely ignores the fact that she will still receive royalties from its sales.

There almost seems to be an attempt to distance Rowling from the franchise entirely. For example, she was completely absent from the Return to Hogwarts anniversary special last year, outside of archive footage.

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Several of the Harry Potter films’ actors have also publicly disagreed with Rowling’s comments, including Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson, who played the main trio of Harry and his best friends Ron and Hermione.

Unless Rowling ever pulls a 180 on her views, the Harry Potter franchise is set to forever be a toxic topic of discussion and the same arguments and criticisms will roll around with every new piece of media that comes out.

Hogwarts Legacy is scheduled to release this year for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC.

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MORE : Hogwarts Legacy lets you play as a transgender character claims leak


MORE : Rupert Grint says he ‘respects’ but ‘disagrees with’ JK Rowling after comments on transgender people


MORE : Emma Watson shares her support for transgender charities after JK Rowling’s comments

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