[GameRant]If Hogwarts Legacy 2 wants to avoid the same boycotts its predecessor faced, the sequel can't take the same approach that the original did.

I love how the poverty wage "game journalist" thinks she has power over JK Rowling.
Harry Potter No GIF
 
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If anything, the 'boycotts' and associated hate campaigns only lead to more awareness and sales for the game.

The developers should make the game as they indended and take any controversy as free PR.
 
SegaSnatcher said:
Does this franchise still have a discussion ban on Era? LOL
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Yes and on Famiboards you can't even mention or breathe anything that hints at its existence. It's a full reality reshaping where you get mod warned if you call it "wizard game" or "that game". Full head in the sand. At least on Era you can say "HL" or "Wizard game" in discussions about the industry. On Famiboards it's a complete redaction / censor.
 
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LectureMaster said:

gamerant.com

Hogwarts Legacy 2 Can’t Side-Step The Franchise’s Biggest Controversy

If Hogwarts Legacy 2 wants to avoid the same boycotts its predecessor faced, the sequel cannot take the same approach that the original did.
gamerant.com gamerant.com

For years, the Harry Potter franchise has dominated pop culture, with Hogwarts Legacy acting as the franchise's most popular video game adaptation. It's no wonder that controversy surrounding the franchise has sprung up at some point, as the first Harry Potter book was released almost thirty years ago. Nevertheless, it's disappointing that such a well-loved piece of pop culture has been sullied in the eyes of many Potterheads despite new content for the franchise, like Hogwarts Legacy, continuing to release.

Unfortunately, Hogwarts Legacy was unable to unmuddy the name of the Harry Potter franchise. While the game may have been met with a positive player and critic response, it was also the subject of boycotts upon release. Avalanche Software and Warner Bros. Games tried to placate fans within the game itself, but the developers' attempt was poorly received. It goes without saying that Avalanche Software and Warner Bros. Games cannot try to avoid controversy the same way Hogwarts Legacy did in the game's allegedly slated sequel.

J.K. Rowling Has Hurt Harry Potter and Hogwarts' Legacy

Creeping through the promotion and marketing for Hogwarts Legacy prior to release was the never ending controversy surrounding J.K. Rowling's transphobic comments. Rowling's comments on the trans community, in conjunction with the reexamination of portrayals of people of color in the Harry Potter books, have essentially reduced the legacy of Harry Potter from a juggernaut in young adult fiction to a nostalgic, but messy, memory. The large majority of Rowling's comments were posted on her X (formerly Twitter) account, with the catalyst of these views being publicly perceived when she liked a Tweet in 2018 that described transgender women as "men in dresses." Since then, she has constantly posted about the issue on X and has been publicly labeled a TERF – a trans-exclusionary radical feminist.

Knowing J.K. Rowling's controversial positions on the trans community specifically led Avalanche Software and Warner Bros. Games to include a minor transgender character in Hogwarts Legacy. Sirona Ryan is the main bartender at the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade. The game establishes that she is fiercely loyal to Hogwarts and its students, as she stands up to Victor Rookwood in a key scene. Though it's always great to see more representation in any kind of media, Sirona Ryan does not truly add much to Hogwarts Legacy's plot other than being a minor NPC. As such, some have viewed the character's addition as performative representation rather than a meaningful statement against Rowling.

J.K. Rowling's harmful statements toward the transgender community cannot be fixed by simply adding a transgender woman to her most popular work and main source of income. Candidly, there is nothing that Avalanche Software or Warner Bros. Games can do to avoid Rowling's controversial statements, as it's likely that she will never change her mind on the subject. But that doesn't mean the developer can't strive to improve the brand's trans representation with Hogwarts Legacy 2, likely with the intent of avoiding its predecessor's boycott that was due to Rowling's statements.

Hogwarts Legacy 2 Will Likely Take the Same Approach as its Predecessor

Transgender Potterheads still exist despite Rowling's statements, so the expansion of Sirona Ryan as a character could be one way that Avalanche Software and Warner Bros. Games attempt to prevent a hypothetical boycott of Hogwarts Legacy 2. This expansion would have to be rather large and genuinely impact the story rather than Sirona Ryan's role from the previous game maintained, proving the character is not performative representation but something more substantial.

Right away, a few ideas spring to mind. Sirona Ryan's role as the head proprietor of the Three Broomsticks could be beneficial to the plot if the bar serves as a key location in Hogwarts Legacy 2. Perhaps she could once again come to the defense of her patrons, like the main students in the hypothetical sequel. If the game takes the mystery route, Sirona Ryan could essentially act as the archetypal trustworthy adult or mentor that mysteries led by teenagers tend to have. She could be a major quest giver and ally on certain tasks, appearing regularly throughout the entire game. Another option would be to include a transgender student as one of the key protagonists or companions in Hogwarts Legacy 2.

The statements made by J.K. Rowling over the last seven years regarding the transgender community have unfortunately damaged a piece of media that was once widely loved. Though it ultimately comes down to fans deciding if they are willing to separate the art from the artist, and Avalanche cannot clean up Rowling's mess, the developer behind Hogwarts Legacy can do more than insert a very minor trans character in its next game. Hopefully, characters like Sirona Ryan can be featured more heavily in Hogwarts Legacy 2, alongside transgender students, to bring a sense of comfort to trans Potterheads who decide to give the game a try.
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Are they really that much in their own bubble? Sigh…
 
This is some of the most nonsensical shit I've read from the modern "gaming press". The impact of the boycott? From whom? The dildo-reviewing 1/10 Wired "journo"?

I hope this is either an overt attempt at clickbait or some contributor over at Gamerant who desperately thinks they can still pull some influence with this gibberish. If the management team/suits over at WB actually take into account what these weirdos suggest, then there won't be enough facepalm reaction emojis. Wouldn't be an unusual case if some out-of-touch WB gaming c-suite exec decides to follow through with listening to something like this. I'm can almost assure taking anything these people screech into consideration will result in the opposite of on the sequel's performance and actual reception. If anything, whatever these people suggest should be done counter-opposite to it.

SJRB said:
liK7JXgXuYingO0K.jpeg

Lol

Lmao, even. Amazing qualifications.
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Can't argue with that "expertise", top lol. Would be neat if they stopped giving these rambling people a soapbox for their politically loaded drivel.
 
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And with the pace that the culture-at-large has become way more hostile towards men who get sexual kicks from dressing up as women and and interfering in their territory, WB would want to be very careful of going in this direction. It could find itself on the end of an entirely opposite sort of backlash when its ready to release in a couple of years.

Alternatively, this "journalist" is desperate to create some drama for clicks. She's been eating baked beans cold from the can for the last month and isn't sure if her career choice is going to work out.
 
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CentralScrutinizer said:
journalists used to be those who got in the dirt to expose injustice and political corruption. Now journalists sit in a tower and work with the politically corrupt to cause injustice and push agendas.
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Well to make things even simpler, a journalist was meant to speak to the people for the people, but now they are mouthpieces for the conglomerates, businesses or organisations, and that's not just game journalists.
 
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Lol.

JK and WB won't care if there is another boycott attempt. The first one sold over 35 million copies, despite a boycott and most of the gaming "press" refusing to cover the game.
 
CentralScrutinizer said:
journalists used to be those who got in the dirt to expose injustice and political corruption. Now journalists sit in a tower and work with the politically corrupt to cause injustice and push agendas.
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Disagree on part of what you said, it is just that we are all calling game bloggers and other tabloid writers journalists. We should stop and push back on the use.
 
What a retarded article. Yeah, I'm sure Warner lost sleep over it selling 34 million copies and the blue hairs reeeeee'ing about it. Worst. Boycott. Ever.
 
Hogwarts game is very successful and they will be so dumb if they will follow gamerant just to push and force twisted gender ideology. Harry potter will always be about JK Rowling and she has common sense. Common sense is back around the world so no need for this leftist antifa crap.
 
Shit, so 35 million sales is the result of some godawful boycott that we're all supposed to be soiling ourselves over huh?

So obviously just a hit piece by a hack publication. Burn games 'journalism' to the ground and rebuild it from the ashes, these weirdo fucks have spread throughout everything. I hate that reading an article about games feels the same as reading an article on MSNBC now.....they bastardized this hobby so much, fuckin sucks to see.
 
alienator said:
Watch them include tons of forced trans and lgbt stuff in part 2 and not selling a single copy. It worked so great for dragon age, concord, duskborne and whatever.. When do devs and outlets like this learn that games are escapism and not a political agenda to force down peoples throats?
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This is strictly the writers opinion, not the devs.
What in the fuck are you foaming at the mouth about again?
And even if they did include that stuff - "so fucking what?" will be the markets response. 35 million
for the first. Mass market doesn't give a fuck if they if they like the overall product enough.
 
I've worked at several different schools, and I'll tell you Harry Potter is still super popular among teachers, even the very liberal ones. They almost always have some sort of Harry Potter decor in the classroom. I don't think your average Harry Potter fan really cares about what Rowling thinks politically.
 
I still remember when that one Japanese V-Tuber streamer said she was going to play the game and then got harassed to the point of quitting streaming.
 
CentralScrutinizer said:
Yes and on Famiboards you can't even mention or breathe anything that hints at its existence. It's a full reality reshaping where you get mod warned if you call it "wizard game" or "that game". Full head in the sand. At least on Era you can say "HL" or "Wizard game" in discussions about the industry. On Famiboards it's a complete redaction / censor.
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The fact that Harry Potter has become forbidden speech there a la "Voldemort" in the books (a concept that the smartest characters in the stories criticize) feels like an episode of South Park or something. It's hard to believe such a satirical turn of events is real.
 
I'd love to see Rowling put a clause in all future licensing deals that no trannies can appear in any Harry Potter-related works.

In other words, make it canon that they don't exist in the world of Harry Potter.
 
Still fighting that imaginary war I see. It's full Super-Saiyan-Karen-Mode. Imagine writing this text based diarrhea, looking it over and being satisfied with your work. Then send it to your editor and get praise for your work as it get published.

It's all so fucking retarded. 🤦‍♂️
 
That game was not boycotted
I don't care what people on Bluesky and Resetera were saying. When they signed off those sites they were playing that game.

The game wouldn't have outsold COD that year if it was boycotted.

People love to front just so they won't get banned and canceled. Must be an awful life to pretend to be something you're not.
 
That boycott sure was effective. You know, minus the 35 million in sales. Imagine the 35,000,02 sales they could have gotten if it wasn't for the boycott.

Even people who claimed to boycott the game played it.
 
Wtf , when i read the thread title, i was confused, i remembered hogswart was successful despite all the purple haired noise

Why would WB be fearful or wants to avoid part 1 design…. I can't find any WB statement in this article… so it dawned on me this just editorial BS from GR, another 1 of them
 
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peish said:
Why would WB be fearful or wants to avoid part 1 design….
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Its not that unlikely how it sounds...it seems to me the western AAA video game industry is more interested in lecturing/educating than selling lots of video games. So yeah, destroying a successful game with nonsense politics is basically their signature move at this point.
 
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