Photo: Avalanche Software / Warner Bros. Games
Avalanche Software, the studio behind the long-awaited Hogwarts legacy video game, is mired in a damage control cycle that never seems to end. This became routine for all companies that fund JK Rowling’s constantly expanding Harry Potter universe; no matter how much money can be earned, or any prestigious portfolio that comes from contributing to one of the most popular franchises in the history of entertainment, Rowling’s transphobia hangs over each project. It can never be completely divested, and the studio is learning that Potter fans are increasingly reluctant to sweep it under the rug.
In the months since Hogwarts legacyin announcement last fall, Avalanche, and its publisher, Warner Bros. Interactive, tried to find a compromise between affirming Rowling’s influence and silently repudiating their prejudices. Sometimes they completely ignore the scam back, and other times they offer openings to fans who are understandably disgusted by the cutting and discriminating rhetoric of their former favorite author. More recently, a report leaked from Avalanche this week proclaiming that Hogwarts legacy will include a trans-friendly character creation tool when the game is released in 2022. There will be no choice of gender or body type; witches can receive male voices, witches female voices and so on.
It is the latest palliative effort to distract potential customers from a reality that will not change anytime soon; JK Rowling has full creative authority over the Harry Potter brand. Any company that aligns with it is also aligning with its worldview, tacitly or not. This paradox will persist until Legacy’s release date and beyond, and so far, Avalanche and Warner Bros. failed to square the circle.
Hogwarts legacy it’s a big deal. Harry Potter has been one of the sleeping giants in the gaming industry, especially considering how the franchise’s potential has been consistently diminished by its previous license holders. In the mid-2000s, while the Harry Potter films were tidying up at the box office, fans received several cheap, hastily assembled Xbox and Playstation links that were notoriously lifeless, full of bugs, and seemed specifically designed to deceive clueless Grandmothers. Buy checkout hall. (The most recent release, 2011 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, has an average rating score of 44% on Metacritic.) Hogwarts legacy, on the other hand, it comes from a genuine pedigree. Avalanche designed the well-regarded infinity disney series over the years 2010, and Warner Bros. brokered an enviable catalog as a video game publisher, with Mortal combat and batman asylum arkham on your resume. The fans rejoiced, here was a Harry Potter game that really aspired to be good! Hogwarts legacy aims to tell an original story set in the main school of witchcraft in Europe at the end of the 19th century. In last year’s reveal trailer, we see a player brewing foamy potions in neon tones, exploring the cobbled streets of Hogsmeade and flying a pegasus over a steep cliff. All of this would have been totally liberating for long-suffering Harry Potter players, if not for all the other baggage.
This trailer hit the internet on September 16, 2020, three months after JK Rowling posted a letter on her website in which she doubled her TERF-y views. This is a brutal moment, and the reaction came quickly and furiously. Harry Potter fans, many of whom had previously vowed to boycott any new or existing material in the universe, added Legacy to that protest. Others have restricted themselves to a very familiar debate – the ability to separate art from its artist. If you want to be charitable, you could argue that neither Warner Bros. nor Avalanche asked for this controversy when they started the venture. Game development on this scale can take years, and the Jason Schreier reported what Hogwarts legacy it was underway for quite a while before Rowling made her first openly anti-trans comments in late 2019. (The game’s alleged footage leaked online in 2018 and was quickly removed following a copyright claim by Warner Bros.)
Naturally, Warner Bros. tried to subdue the grudge of the fans as soon as Hogwarts legacy made its debut. A FAQ was posted on the game’s website shortly after the official launch. In it, there is an answer to the question: “What is JK Rowling’s involvement with the game?” He says: “JK Rowling is not directly involved in the creation of the game, however, her extraordinary body of writing is the basis of all projects in the Wizarding World. This is not a new story by JK Rowling. ”(What has not been said is the fact that the author still benefits financially from anything that has the name Potter.)
The syntax of this FAQ is strange – both an endorsement and a refusal of Rowling’s creative work, emblematic of the dual realities that Hogwarts legacy wish it existed in.
That is the problem here. It doesn’t matter how much distance Avalanche and Warner Bros. try to put between themselves and Rowling’s name, the gravitational pull of Harry Potter IP forced them to follow the line. This was evidenced by a question and answer session by Warner Bros. that leaked in October last year. In it, WB President David Haddad responded to employees’ understandable concerns about his newfound closeness to Rowling’s backward ideas stating, “She has the right to express her opinions on social media. I may not agree with her, and I may not agree with her on a variety of topics, but I can agree that she has a right to have her opinions. ”When you receive an answer like that, it is very clear how little the board is willing to grant.
Throughout this ordeal, it was easy to find sympathy for some of the anonymous developers who worked hard Hogwarts legacy. Many of them probably come from their own disadvantaged backgrounds and have watched a dream designation turn into an exhausting albatross, all thanks to a woman’s reckless prejudice. In an article for Polygon, Stacey Henley notes that this sensitivity was cited by consumers who want to justify their purchase Hogwarts legacy when it comes out – to “support the developers” instead of supporting JK Rowling. (Henley correctly states that this reasoning is a fundamental misunderstanding of the function of a boycott.) But that sympathy was beaten on February 21, when news broke that Troy Leavitt, chief designer at Hogwarts legacy, previously piloted a reactionary YouTube channel adjacent to Gamergate that appeared to be in line with Rowling’s newfound political stance.
Scroll through the channel’s catalog and you will see that Leavitt has uploaded videos with titles such as “The injustice of social justice” and “In praise of cultural appropriation”, which rage against the tyranny of progressives who wish to highlight the diversity of the gaming industry’s disabilities. (There is literally a video called “It’s Okay to Be a Gamer.”) More suspiciously, a 2018 video reappeared in which Leavitt mentions that he revealed the existence of his YouTube channel to Warner Bros. during your hiring process. Apparently, none of that mattered to the company.
“It didn’t seem to be a problem for them,” he said. “Not that they endorse anything I said, of course, but at least they seem more concerned with playing good games than promoting some kind of social justice agenda, so there is hope.”
Just a week after this disaster, we learned about Hogwarts’ legacys trans-inclusive character creator. You are not alone if that report sounds a little hollow. Try as they may, Avalanche and Warner Bros. they are bound by a fundamental truth: no one can condemn JK Rowling for his ethical failures while publishing one of his properties. Instead, these two companies will continue to take one step forward and two steps back. They can offer some comfort, they can smooth some of the edges, but they can never solve the problem. In fact, they can’t even admit that there is a problem.
To be clear, Avalanche and Warner Bros. are far from the only ones looking down. Now, there are rumors that HBO is circulating a Harry Potter TV show. If that ever takes off, expect the same round of complaints and half-measures – all cynically silenced by trade prerogatives.
It’s ironic that all this excitement is centered on a game called Hogwarts legacy, at a time when the legacy of Harry Potter seems to change with each passing day. Avalanche and Warner Bros. set out to make a video game full of fascinating jokes from their original material. Instead, they are producing a tense and controversial test case about what it means to be part of the Harry Potter brand in 2021. You can still sell many copies, but at what cost?