The creators of the new Harry Potter game’s answer to JK Rowling’s transphobia

JK Rowling will not like it: Hogwarts Legacy, a new game set in the world of Harry Potter due out in 2022, will include a variety of options for defining the gender identity of their character – a move born in response to Rowling’s transphobic statements. In Hogwarts Legacy, instead of choosing between a character of a hero or a heroine, players will be able to form a character with a female or male body, a female or male voice and finally define them as “magician” or “magician” – which will determine how the other characters approach them.

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According to a report on the Bloomberg website, Rowling’s remarks provoked discussion and controversy among the game development team, which eventually led to the opening of more options for character building. According to the report, the management of Warner Bros. – which produced the Harry Potter films and is now developing the game – initially opposed the move, but eventually reached a compromise with the developers.

Hogwarts Legacy.  Expected to be released in 2022 Hogwarts Legacy. Expected to be released in 2022

Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books and best-selling author in history, has in the last two years become a sharp critic of the contemporary discourse around transgender rights. Many have accused Rowling – including die-hard fans who grew up on her library and also the stars of the Harry Potter film series, including Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson – of transphobia. Some even boycotted her works. Warner Bros., which produced the brand’s films and produces the new game, previously noted that Rowling was not involved in work on the game. The company also issued a statement – which did not address Rowling directly – in which it emphasized its commitment to “a diverse and inclusive culture in both our society and the works we give to our audience.”

Hogwarts Legacy, an open-world action-adventure game, is expected to be released in 2022 for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and PC. The game takes place before the time of Harry Potter, in the late 19th century.

The world of Harry Potter is one of the ten most lucrative media brands ever, with revenues of about $ 32 billion since the first book in the series came out in 1997. Despite a string of previous attempts to develop a successful computer game in this world, most of them received reasonable to mediocre reviews and left no significant mark. Even the mobile game Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, a kind of Harry Potter version of Pokemon Go – which was also developed by the same company, Niantik – had a hard time getting up. For the past two years it has been available in a limited beta version in Australia and New Zealand only and its increasingly delayed global launch should only arrive in the middle of the current year.

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