Highlights
- Hogwarts Legacy, once a controversial game, has now become forgettable in the vast sea of open world games.
- The decision not to cover the game was made by TheGamer due to the source material's association with a public figure promoting transphobia.
- Despite the controversy, many people sacrificed their morals for nostalgia and played the game, contributing to the success that perpetuates harmful ideologies.
Hogwarts Legacy was consumed by millions of people and made billions of dollars, but less than a year later it’s hard to find anyone with enough passion to talk about it. It came and went, which is a big feat for a game which once brought up so much controversy. What was once a calling card for the transphobic and those who wished to bat against the ‘go woke, go broke’ crowds has grown into little more than yet another forgettable open world game in a sprawling sea of them.
We decided against covering Hogwarts Legacy here at TheGamer, unless content produced contributed effectively to the overall cultural discussion. As a team made up of several queer people it didn’t feel right to shine a light on a game whose source material was created by a public figure who is normalising transphobia on a global scale. J.K. Rowling has skewered her legacy in favour of bolstering this rhetoric, and it’s continually sad to see.
Shortly after its release I wrote about how its critical and financial success was a clear sign of how spineless the video game industry has become, and how it was unable to ignore the next big thing if it meant standing up for a minority group who had spent months trying their best to speak up about how supporting a title like this inevitably puts money straight into the pockets of bigots. The developers have made their money, the actors have been paid, and it isn’t like everyday people should be caring about the bottom line of a random corporation.
Except a lot of people did, opting to sacrifice their morals if it meant joining a wizard house and fulfilling their childhood fantasy. It’s a little sad how nostalgia can so easily override the need for societal progress, doubly so when the views being pushed forward by Rowling and company are only becoming more and more mainstream. The world isn’t a safe place right now for transgender people, and whether you think it’s absurd or not, the success of a game like Hogwarts Legacy feeds into that proliferation. We, as a collective, failed to hold the line.
Months later, I can’t help looking back to see what it was all for. A close friend of mine threw a used copy of Hogwarts Legacy my way a few months after release, so I took a brief look, deciding to ignore my trepidations about a franchise birthed by Britain’s transphobic figurehead and see if, beyond all the political debate, this game we all fought so hard to play was worth it after all.
Turns out what we have here is an open world experience which matches the wonder you’d expect from the studio behind Cars 3: Driven To Win. It boils the intended magic of attending Hogwarts into a bloated open world with a love for repetitive missions, samey collectibles, and mechanics which wouldn’t be out of place in a Ubisoft game obsessed with keeping us enraptured with sheer quantity over quality. It’s bloated and archaic in its execution, so we cast it aside.
Gamers reached the credits and waited eagerly for the next big thing, disappointed when it became clear that no downloadable content was planned and seemingly basic elements like Qudditch - in a Harry Potter game of all things - were being saved not for future expansions, but a new game altogether. It stands a chance of making more money that way. It’s gross, but millions will sing the same song and dance once an inevitable sequel rolls around, ignoring the pleas of trans people as nostalgia proves to be more important.
I don’t harbour ill will towards those out of the loop with a love for Harry Potter who picked this game up and hoped to enjoy it, but it’s a different story for those who were continually aware of the surrounding circumstances and decided not only to ignore them, but to play the game rather than supporting those who stood against it. We weren’t asking for much, and the denial of your LGBTQ+ friends draws a line in the sand that proves to us that if things ever get worse for queer people, which they very likely will, you won’t be there for us when we need you. That sucks and it’s precisely the support we’ve been fighting for regarding a game like Hogwarts Legacy. All for an open world game that time has already forgotten.