Fans of Harry Potter have long wanted a game that let them run around in the magical sandbox that is the Wizarding World, and Hogwarts Legacy has shown through its gameplay footage and what we know of the story so far that it is likely to come very close to what would-be players have been looking for. But even if Hogwarts Legacy reaches perfection, a large portion of fans will never buy the game.
The first Harry Potter game to give fans of the books and movies a more intimate look inside Hogwarts was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and while Hogwarts Legacy promises to do that and even more, the game's timing makes it a tough one to pick up. Ever since that one 2001 Game Boy Advanced game, players have been wanting a Harry Potter game to fulfill that same fantasy, but J.K. Rowling is making Hogwarts Legacy's launch all the more difficult.
J.K. Rowling's Rise and Fall Ahead of Hogwarts Legacy's Release
The Harry Potter author was once a model for how to interact with fans in the modern era, but now most fans wish they could go without having to hear about J.K. Rowling's hateful comments ever again. She was once beloved by the community and all book lovers for her early adoption of the Internet as a way to connect with fans. J.K. Rowling was among the first mainstream writers to actually approve of fan fiction writing, whereas most at the time saw it as creative theft, and she used Chat Rooms and later Twitter to directly answer questions from fans and engage with them in discussions about the story and world in their own spaces. In doing this, Rowling earned a good deal of social capital with fans, capital that she would, unfortunately, go on to use to belittle and incite hate against a specific minority.
Rowling's continued attacks on the trans community made some former fans aware of her use of anti-Semitic stereotypes in a fantasy race set to be the villains of Hogwarts Legacy - the goblins. The writer's ongoing controversies have led to fans swearing off Harry Potter forever, even inducing some of the original actors from the movie series to speak up, and are now starting boycott efforts for Hogwarts Legacy. All the philanthropic work over the years, all the little things that helped bring fan culture into the mainstream, and all the words in her books about acceptance and triumph over evil, were seen as meaningless by some fans in light of Rowling's transphobic tweets.
How Hogwarts Legacy's Magic is Lost In Light of Rowling's Transphobic Tweets
Hogwarts Legacy offers players the ability to be sorted into one of the four houses, attend magic classes, fly a broom, travel to Hogsmeade, interact with magical creatures, and go on an adventure in the world they've spent years familiarizing themselves with. The world of Harry Potter has always been an attractive sandbox, after all. What the stories and Rowling's world-building had left out, fans were able to imagine for themselves and grow ideas for how they could fit into this magical universe. The fact that the game gives fans what they need to play out these fantasies is why Hogwarts Legacy is at the top of Steam's wishlist charts.
The more that is revealed about the game, the more Harry Potter fans want a closer look at what they've seen. But despite Warner Bros. Interactive confirming Rowling's lack of involvement in Hogwarts Legacy's development, many fans have expressed the intention to boycott the game as a way to avoid supporting the writer. Hogwarts Legacy supposedly fulfills the wishes of everyone who has ever wanted to wield magic or to go to Hogwarts as a student, feeling like they belong there. Unfortunately, some former fans believe that the magic of Harry Potter is lost in Rowling's extreme stances, and Hogwarts Legacy's release window makes it too late to prove that charm could still be there.
Hogwarts Legacy launches on February 10, 2023, for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X, on April 4 for PS4 and Xbox One, and on July 25 for Switch.