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!)

Unless you have a spare couple of million I'm not sure you'll be doing much in the way of balancing anything

Do you want to send another donation because I will be buying the game too for my grandchildren? They love HP.

Well it's showing that it hasn't worked. (You can go on a lot of websites and when searching for articles on the game the search results are pretty sparse).

But what it shows is the bias inside the media, recent articles called LGB Alliance a hate group, and articles that deal with these new identities tend to go to extraordinary lengths to describe and "educate" what they are. And we're talking about websites about computer games!

It also shows a well trodden pathway of how many teenage boys suddenly express a wish to transition, because just about all the media that they consume has been affected by lobbying from activists.

Gaming is an industry that sees a high amount of MtF trans people.

Wow

The game looks great.

Wish I had the time to game. Would definitely buy it.

I think the point made about the main stream media being complicit is really key.

I know a lot of people think twitter is really important but in terms of numbers re social media platforms it is tiny. But ... for whatever reason the mainstream media picks up on twitter storms (although now they do reflect TikTok a bit) but never for instance facebook "storms" although it has considerably more users etc..

So we come back yet again to my is so much of the media still so captured by the TRA campaign. eg none of them reported when the census figures came out why is the % of people who are trans are so many parts of society expected to change to fit their set of beliefs compared say to any number of religions, or number of atheists?

It is the main stream media who is normalising trans ideology.

Yahoo which often publishes articles from other papers (in some cases bypassing the pay wall) is very pro trans in its selections. But the article itself was from a Scottish paper and I wonder whether recent camaigns etc., have made them feel able to even raise the notion that not everyone is on the trans train. Another example I felt was the report from Canada about trans activists shutting down an open discussion with violence. Not sure what level of reporting there is in Canada about those taking a stand about trans colonisation.

Wouldn't it be great if news papers just reported the facts eg numbers watching or reading Harry Potter, rather than doing interviews with no hope actors who stab the person who got them to where they are and then drivel their disresepct.

So good to know that gamers etc., just ignore MSM, and get on with assessing what they want to do based on the product itself, not the unrepresentative views of a few "journalists".

Any how, bit of a derail, but hope we have many other JKR related stories like this making it into the media.

PS I dont even like Harry Potter (oops) but am totally team JKR. So many in her position would have just stepped out of the limelight. But she keeps going, not just for herself, but for all of us.

MargaritaPie · Today 14:12

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

Hopefully, they'll fall from your eyes.

“You're not a gamer are you?”

Oh Margarita, you’re letting yourself down! Who are you to tell someone they are a gamer or not? If they identify as a gamer …

I preordered 3 the other day for my DC’s (ages 21, 18 & 16, so not middle aged rights hoarding dinosaurs) on their various consoles so you’d better add a bit more cash to your side of the scales….

Sorry for previous derail, and in advance for this one :)

Some people use phrases like 'get woke go broke', which is a bit of an emotionally charged slogan, but I've seen a very good argument recently that's made me think that the phrase should be turned around. 'Going broke, get woke'. There are many examples of organizations doing poorly financially and it looks like their response is to hope that hopping on the progressive bandwagon will help turn their fortunes around. A standout example of this would be Disney. Across their entire business they are down half a billion dollars in annual revenue and their share price cap is down approaching 200 billion. Disney leadership sackings shenanigans are currently playing out like one of those spoof murder mystery movies were there is another fresh murder each scene. It could be argued that they would have done just as badly even without getting involved in real life politics in Florida, going woke etc... Perhaps going woke was a response to, not the reason for going broke.
My point of the above word salad is that there does seem to be some connection between going woke and financial difficulty, even if it might be getting misrepresented; which is the chicken, and which is the egg.

Mainstream/legacy media has had a really tough time financally since the start of the internet. When I was a kid every house on my street had papers delivered. Kids had paper rounds. I had one, I covered the rounds of other kids when they went on holiday. That was a very stable practically guaranteed income for the papers. I still see physical papers in small shops, but I cannot remember the last time I saw a kid on a paper round. I see websites in the names of the papers, but they are crawling with ads and beg for money continually. Competition is fierce on the internet. Mumsnet itself is a competitor to MSM for your eyeballs and time. There is so much choice. The MSM gets a lot less money than it used to. They have to hire cheaper people because that's all they can afford. I believe activists are probably a lot more willing to work for peanuts if they get a chance to push their agenda.

Trying to get back on point.
We all know how badly JKR is treated in the mainstream media. I remember the recent story of the journalist told to write a story about how transphobic she was who couldn't find any tranphobia from JKR. People have lost faith in the MSM and I think the MSM know this. They have much reduced credibility, and their special status of arbiters of the truth of old is long gone. Most are just activism now, just look at the BBC. They are activist organisations.
That the Harry Potter game is selling so well, number one on Steam ( ranked by money coming in ) right now, without the support of the MSM demonstrates how little people rely on the MSM. They are irrelevant. They are dinosaurs in their death throws, and as everyone knows, the only dinosaurs winning right now are the dinosaurs that hoard their rights like eggs.

*Super.

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

I'm buying a copy for each of my kids and my eldest is buying herself a second copy of the game in a different format so she can choose whether to play on the PS or the XBOX. I hope you've deep pockets Marg

I've preordered the deluxe version! It absolutely looks amazing and I can't wait to play it.

I don't think JK is trans phobic however if she was buying a game doesn't mean you're transphobic.

In actual fact the developers (rightly or wrongly) have distanced themselves from her and made the game trans friendly - what more do the trans community want? Blood?

They aren't going to hurt JK, it'll be the developers they hurt whose put so much passion into this game, it's sad.

Just a minor point to try and make amends for all my MSM derailing.
On Steam the ranking system is ordered by money being spent by consumers on Steam, not how many units sold. So the Harry Potter game being top means it's generating the most money of any product on Steam. I think it's international too, so that would be worldwide. JKR will be getting a slice of all of that. It's going to be a LOT of money. Great news considering how supportive of women's rights she is out of her own pocket.
I don't know how other platform ranking are done, but on Steam alone JKR is doing very well, add the other platforms on top.

We will be buying it . We love lego Harry Potter. My kids love the books and audio books.

If you want to see the reasonable trans activist case, you can read it here:

web.archive.org/web/20230109193850/www.thegamer.com/hogwarts-legacy-harry-potter-jk-rowling-controversy-boycott-battleground/

Here's the author of that article: twitter.com/fivetacey/status/1519710320620716032

• Super.

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

Just bought it because of your pathetic post. I don't even play computer games.

Not very convincing essay. We know the British public still loves Rowling that is why they buy her books when they come out with another no 1 bestseller in 2022 and watch Strike on the BBC.

This game will earn JKR some cash for sure, but it won't be that much compared to the real money spinners which are the Potter theme parks round the world with millions of visitors and all the Potter merchandise and books sold everywhere. Plus the revenue from streaming.

HP ongoing success is due not just to JKR's writing, but also the marketing power of Warner Brothers who created the films, games, merchandise empire and advertise and stream the films. Notice people talk of boycotting one game, what they won't do is boycott Warner Brothers/HBO who have swathes of employees whose aim is make HP more successful than ever in every area.

Because boycotting Warner means no more LOTR films, Game of Thrones, or any DC comic/film products plus many other major names. Every time you consume any of those products you fund Warner who live to make the Wizarding World bigger than ever and to ensure Rowling becomes ever more wealthy and influential so she can speak the truth.

The success of the game is a small part of that.

I've been cackling about this for days I'm loving how the TRA are freaking out on twitter and other places and finally starting to realise no one cares about them.

Got to give a shout out to Valve who are such a great company. Steam is amazing at handling TRA freakouts and they work so hard to keep the platform great for everyone else. This isn't the first game the TRA had a meltdown over and it won't be the last.

The game critic media are really a joke. Them not talking about this games just confirms it. No serious gamer even looks at those. Most don't give honest scores when it comes to AAA games because they are scared to no longer get firsts and free goodies from the companies and we all know it. Steam and it's community give you the best information you need.

I'm looking forward to playing the game.

I forgot to add, all those activists that are buying the game, just goes to show they are doing nothing but virtue signalling and they don't believe their own bullshit.

If they truly, really believe that JK Rowling is causing mass genocide and harming trans people and they still buy this game, it just goes to show they have no integrity or morals.

I've got an array of companies now that I'm boycotting because they jumped on the trans train and I just can't ever forgive them throwing women and children under the bus to try and sell products. It's good for my wallet, gave me money to buy the deluxe edition of Hogwarts. lmao

And Simon Pegg is voicing Phineas Nigellus Black - headmaster of Hogwarts in the game. This game is sounding better and better. Wonder if Simon will be cancelled, or will his being male be enough to save him?

At a time when so many people are struggling to buy food or pay heating bills, it seems a bit petty to buy a premium-priced video game you have no intention of playing for whatever your point is meant to be.

I may do "a little more gardening" for Stonewall, because I care about LGBT rights and I know it's for a good cause. IMO it doesn't make sense to just throw money away for nothing.

I hadn't really paid much attention but have now looked at the game and plan to get it. Just need to wait for it to come down in price as can't afford £60 right now for the standard version

@MargaritaPie money well spent then as clearly it's got right up your nose. 😂😂

Why anyone who cares for LGB rights would support Stonewall is beyond me. They've thrown them under the bus to push the Trans agenda.

Oh Margarita, you’re letting yourself down! Who are you to tell someone they are a gamer or not? If they identify as a gamer …

I think I might start identifying as a gamer just so I have an excuse to buy it!

If you want to support a sane approach to LGB and female rights might I suggest buying a Harry Potter game might not be the best approach. JKR is only going to get a slice of the game's sales. JKR is also already hugely wealthy. It enables JKR to do great things for female rights but she's not the only game in town.
For instance the LGB Alliance are doing great work on this front and are nowhere near as well funded as JKR.
In my opinion JKR is a superstar so I'm not being even slightly critical of her. I'm saying there's more than one organization doing great work. If you buy the Harry Potter game JKR will get maybe £5-10 out of your £50. If you donate £50 to the LGB Alliance they will get most of it depending on who is processing the money. I'm just using the LGB Alliance as an example, look into it and find a smaller charity doing good work that you think deserves your support.
However after all I've just said one thing that supporting the Harry Potter will do is get noticed by the accountants. Unit sales are very important. Cash coming in is hugely important. Given JKR is meant to be cancelled by the nutters every unit sold tells the bean counters how little the mandrake screeching of the nutters matters. No author who's work sells games, books, etc... as much as JKR's does around the world, being a number one bestseller on multiple platforms, is cancelled in the eyes of the bean counters. Making JKR number one by buying her stuff sends a VERY clear message to the suits in the language they understand the most.
PS in case you didn't know the video games market is worth more than Hollywood, the entire movie industry and the entire music industry all put together. It's the number one market in the entertainment industry. It's not a small indy niche market, is the biggest game in town. JKR is top of that market right now. This isn't small beans.