Call to boycott new Harry Potter game over JK Rowling trans comments fails

[IwantToRetire]

Despite the controversy surrounding the author, Hogwarts Legacy game was the top-selling title on PC distribution platform Steam on Monday and Tuesday, ahead of other high-profile releases such as "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II" and "Destiny 2".

It was also the best-selling title in the PlayStation Store's "coming soon" category this week, ahead of other much-anticipated games such as "Star Wars Jedi: Survivor" and "Dead Space."

The fan fervour around the game, due to be released on February 10th, has not stopped trans activists and supporters from trying to derail its launch, with some adding ‘transphobic’ tags to the game’s page on Steam, though these were quickly deleted. ...

On its FAQ page about the game, publishing company Warner Bros.Games said it was "not a new story" from her.

It added: "J.K. Rowling is not directly involved in the creation of the game, however, her extraordinary body of writing is the foundation of all projects in the Wizarding World."

uk.news.yahoo.com/call-boycott-harry-potter-game-130236693.html

Good to know that a commercial company has more ethics then the pathetic little film "stars" who are happy to advance themselves through her work, but fail to acknowledge her.

(Thought it would be nice to end on an upbeat story!)

I'm planning to buy it on playstation 5. It looks amazing and I can't wait to play it. Jk rowling is an amazingly brave Woman!

I preordered the deluxe version on PS5 just as an up yours to the TRA bullies. I may not have the time to play the game, but I have the money to buy it😈

Isn’t it already one of the best selling games ever. Hope she makes pots of cash.

My cool af teenager was playing Lego Harry Potter on his Ps4 last week, oh it warmed my heart ❤️😂

I’ve actually bought a new Xbox to play it instead of waiting for the release on the Xbox One in April. I wanted to play anyway but all of the ‘cancel’ hype has actually made me super keen!

Another fantastic own goal, as always! 😄

I wouldn't quite say that it has failed because most computer game website refuse to write articles about the game.

More fool them.

We went to the HP studio tour yesterday. There was definitely no shortage of people happy to be there and having a wonderful time. No one booed when JKR appeared on screen, but then I don't suppose the haters would pay that much money to go if they really objected to her existence.

It was simply incredible and I highly recommend going.

I know why they always spin JKR as 'anti-trans' but how I wish that the headline was 'Call to boycott new Harry Potter game over JKR's comments in support of women and single sex spaces'

@knittingaddict Yes, more fool them.

But it highlights the continuing disconnect between critics and audiences.

It also shows the various tactics that the activists have that if they can't get the masses to boycott buying it, they would rather have all information about when the game is being released, details of the contents etc, censored so that the masses aren't aware that the game exists and when and where they can buy it.

@ReunitedThorns which are the major computer games websites that haven't written any articles about it?

Harry Potter makes for excellent games, I so enjoyed the Lego Harry Potter. Congratulations on this success the amazing JKR.

Hear hear!

Honestly another reason is that I used to be very liberal and it was very exhausting constantly being told to boycott something.

After awhile it feels like you're being told what you can and can't buy and when you're struggling to make ends meet like myself. The few times that you have cash to spare on something fun you just want to do something nice for yourself without feeling guilty all the time. I was once told to not buy a game I had been looking forward for years because of a payment disagreement one of the voice actresses had with the creators and I bought it anyways.

It was life is strange before the storm.

One of my friends acted like my decision would single handily destroy the industry and she actually unfriended me on Facebook after we had been friends for over 5 years.

It hurt my feelings but didn't surprise me. I think after that my decision to stop being caught up in stupid boycotts had been cemented.

If you want me to boycott something I'm going to need a much better reason to do it than "I don't like their opinions." Or "one of the voice actresses is mad at the company because of her paycheck."

The company is gonna have to be setting babies on fire at this rate. So far never had a boycott really change anything anyways.

This is yet more evidence that trans ideology is supported by a very small proportion of the population. These endless hysterical and angry calls for boycotts appear to have next-to-no effect. People keep on buying her books and watching the films.

Just to hammer home the point, according to the Daily Mail, last year JKR earned £18m in dividends from her Pottermore company.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11596645/JK-Rowling-receives-18MILLION-payout-Harry-Potter-publishing-company.html

I boycott Amazon @BringerOfDoom . But I'm not going to make it a condition of friendship. That seems a bit silly .

My 7 year old watched Harry Potter for the first time the other day and has fallen in love with it all! Guess what's next on her reading list?
The children will keep it going no matter what people try to do.
Good pint @NancyDrawed

Buying it right now!

That's fine. Most gamers don't visit computer game websites anyway.

Around 2014ish a similar thing to what's happening now with TRAs GC and the media being utterly biased and authoritarian happened in computer gaming. Gamers just ditched the traditional media and now completely ignore them. Fresh new outlets and media popped up to meet the needs of gamers, just like GC twitter, substack, you tube, even GB News etc.. have replaced the traditional media for GC people.

When Trump was elected, some mainstream media even blamed it on gamers. This authoritarian movement actively encouraged and supported by old media is a recurring cycle across many vastly differing cultural topics. The battlegrounds may differ but the methods used and the playbook are exactly the same every time.

Other cultural topics that have already been through this woke authoritarian invasionary process include ; heavy metal music, knitting ( yes making stuff from wool ), science fiction, young adult fiction, comic books, tabletop wargaming. Everywhere that a community of like minded people exist to share a hobby or ideas has been subject to an attempted invasive and authoritarian subjugation.

Women's rights are far more important than a hobby for geeks, but its the same playbook being used every time. The old media are complicit and call you a bad person for standing up for yourself. The way to win is to tell them to eff off and stop giving them money in any form, even advertising clicks from visting their websites.

Kellie-Jay Keen has the right idea, AND she never loses :)

I saw it mentioned on a games website where it was stated that some sites were not reporting on it.

I have noticed that on the majority of sites reporting on the game has been kept to a minimum. A big reveal of the game wasn't reported on by sites like Eurogamer and was picked up on by a number of readers, when the game was eventually mentioned again. The Sony State of Play event was strangely ignored by a lot of sites because the focus was on Hogwarts Legacy.

Even news that it has record pre-orders is strangely lacking on most websites that would normally report on such stuff.

Surely lack of articles is irrelevant considering sales are still high 🤷‍♀️

This isn't anything new, people have been calling to boycott it for ages.

The coders/designers etc have already been paid so don't worry, they aren't going to lose out if the game doesn't sell well.

"That's fine. Most gamers don't visit computer game websites anyway."

You're not a gamer are you?

Super.

I'll send a donation to Stonewall right now to balance the scales.

@MargaritaPie
"That's fine. Most gamers don't visit computer game websites anyway."
You're not a gamer are you?

I am very very much a gamer. Have been since the 80s.
I don't know what criteria you are using to decide if another person is a gamer or not, but I'd consider getting a new one, the current one is very poor.

It's so ridiculous. Fair enough don't agree with her viewpoints, don't buy the game but websites whose role it is to review games etc should not be censoring. Pretty ridiculous when they promote games like grand theft auto!

I'll be buying it, but alas it will take me a decade to complete around work.

I think that is pretty reasonable. Amazon is pretty corrupt. I think if it were just one or two companies it would be fine. But for awhile it felt like there was a new boycott being proposed every month.