I said it earlier in this thread, but since this game is about to come out I want to reiterate and articulate my feelings more clearly, speaking as a transgender person who used to love Harry Potter enough that I got a damn tattoo. If it weren't for everything else I'm about to say, I would be frothing at the mouth for this game. This isn't intended as an attack on anyone in this thread, but this is a thread for expressing opinions, and these are my
very strong opinions.
Hogwarts Legacy makes me feel actively unsafe. The hype around it makes me feel unsafe. The aggression people experience when they point out the problems with this game makes me feel unsafe. It may sound silly to say about a wizard game, but that's the reality. Bigots have chosen to rally around the HP franchise and JK Rowling because they know it's safe. They know people want to play a wizard game more than they want to protect the trans people in their lives. It's a safe community for them to hide in and find like-minded people, to gang up and harass trans people just trying to live our lives.
JK Rowling has spent years now rallying violently against the trans community. Calling trans women words I probably can't say on HNZ, calling trans men confused girls that have been led astray. She's pouring money and public support into groups that want my existence to be a crime. That's where those licensing fees are going. She may not be involved directly in the game's development, but it all still lines her pockets, and she's openly claimed she views people financially supporting her as support for her hateful, bigoted views. To her, every dollar is another person rallying behind her hate campaign.
All those problems aside - the game itself is stupendously antisemitic and glorifies slavery. They
advertise that the player character has their own personal house elf slave like it's a good thing. The plot itself draws directly on blood libel accusations, furthering the portrayal of goblins in HP as antisemitic caricatures. The original lead developer had a far-right anti-feminist youtube channel dedicated to attacking women working in the gaming sphere, a channel he claims the company was fully aware of. This game is rotten to the core, and slapping a gender-neutral character creator on doesn't change anything.
If anyone wants sources on any of this or perspectives from other people directly affected, here are a few links. (Warning for strong language.)
(If nothing else, I
strongly recommend watching
the section beginning at 2 : 53 : 00. This is what matters.)
The Antisemitism of ‘Harry Potter’ Returns in ‘Hogwarts Legacy’
"Made the main plot a goblin uprising and included house-elves everywhere": Community reacts to J.K. Rowling and Hogwarts Legacy's problematic representations
And as a final note - if this post makes me the fun police, consider how little fun it is to see people prioritising a videogame over your safety.
Real people are being harmed in
real ways in the name of this game. And I want to reiterate the point I made at the start of this post - this is a thread for people's opinions and feelings about the game, and these are mine.