Avalanche Software’s chief designer Hogwarts legacy, an open-world Harry Potter adventure scheduled for release in 2022, left the project. Troy Leavitt, whose YouTube channel embraced sympathies from Gamergate and other far-right cultural critics, said on Thursday night that he parted ways with the Avalanche and would explain more in a YouTube video later.
On Twitter, Leavitt said he left Avalanche on good terms and wanted to resign “for reasons that I will explain in the next video”. He said he had “nothing but good things to say about the game, the development team and WB Games”.
1. I made the decision to separate from Avalanche Software. I have nothing but good things to say about the game, the development team and WB Games.
2. Soon I will be releasing a YouTube video about it on my channel.
– Troy Leavitt (@Troylus_true) March 5, 2021
To clarify: I felt absolutely safe in my position. However, I still wanted to resign for reasons that I will explain in that next video. I am in an excellent mood and very satisfied with my relationship with WB and Avalanche.
– Troy Leavitt (@Troylus_true) March 5, 2021
Hogwarts legacy has attracted controversy since the day it was announced in September, mainly because of the recent history of transphobic statements and writings by Harry Potter creator JK Rowling. In response, WB Games specified in a FAQ, published after the game was revealed on September 16, that Rowling herself has no direct involvement with Hogwarts legacyhistory or development of.
So, on February 19, Liam Robertson from Did You Know Gaming? drew attention to the four-year-old Leavitt YouTube channel, whose nearly 60 videos direct harsh right-wing criticism of pop culture critic Anita Sarkeesian, other feminists and defenders of social justice in general. Some of Leavitt’s videos also sympathized with Gamergate, a six-year reactionary harassment campaign that targets feminist, progressive and other social justice voices that develop or comment on video games.
In a video, Leavitt said he told his employers at Avalanche, Utah, and at WB Games, about his YouTube channel and its content, and neither of them seemed concerned about it. “Not that they endorse what I said, of course,” said Leavitt, “but at least they seem more concerned with playing good games than promoting some kind of social justice agenda, so there is hope.”
In response, the popular video game forum ResetEra, whose users often share trailers, screenshots and other promotional materials for games in development, banned all promotional discussions or “advertising topics” from Hogwarts legacy from now on.
So earlier this week, Bloomberg reported that Hogwarts legacy would include gender agnostic character creation options, which would allow users to build a player character with voice and body types that are not linked to each other, or any gender presentation.
The Bloomberg report added that other Avalanche Software developers were “sad and frustrated” with the controversy that the game had sparked, more than a year from launch, and that the project management would have resisted developers’ attempts to place a creator of transinclusive characters in the game.
Polygon contacted Leavitt and WB Games representatives for additional comments. WB Games confirmed to Polygon that Leavitt “made the decision to leave Avalanche Software” and declined to comment further.
Hogwarts legacy is expected in 2022, on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One and Xbox Series X.