The game was eagerly awaited by fans. Allowing everyone to fully immerse themselves in the world of Harry Potter, by offering themselves a little getaway in Hogwarts during the 1800s. A week after its launch, the report is clear, it’s a real box full .
Topping pre-orders on Steam for weeks, its massive success isn’t a big surprise, but it’s still impressive. Thus “Hogwarts Legacy: The Legacy of Hogwarts” knows the best start in Europe for a single player game. It even does better than Elden Ring, one of the most anticipated games of the past year and which was crowned game of the year 2022.
On the Twich platform, the game tops the streams and explodes viewership records. And yet, many controversies surrounding the creator of the Harry Potteresque universe, JK Rowling.
Streisand effect?
Could the game’s success be the result of the good old Streisand effect? (Editor’s note. The Streisand effect qualifies an involuntary media phenomenon. It occurs when, by wanting to prevent information from circulating, one ends up with the totally opposite result). It is true that in the days preceding the game’s release, many figures in the LGBTQIA+ community called for a boycott of the adaptation on our consoles.
This is perhaps quickly said. The dazzling success of Hogwarts Legacy can already be explained by the immense success of the Harry Potter franchise, whose fans are more than legion. If the latest controversies surrounding the release of the game, and more particularly the positions deemed transphobic by JK Rowling, have brought it to light a little more, this does not seem to have impacted the sales figures of the opus. On the contrary.
What do we blame JK Rowling for?
The controversy surrounding JK Rowling is not new. She is accused of taking positions deemed transphobic and many in militant circles call her TERF (from the English Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist, radical feminist excluding trans people in French in the text).
Besides, many actors in the Harry Potter saga have dissociated themselves from the author. This is the case of Emma Watson, for example, who during the BAFTA ceremony in 202 did not hesitate to emphasize that she was there “for all the witches”, in reaction to the positions of JK Rowling. But what exactly do we blame the novelist for?
For 5 years, the creator of Harry Potter has been in turmoil. Accused of anti-Semitism and especially of transphobia, JK Rowling has become persona non-grata. Many tweets and transphobic reactions have drawn many reactions and condemnations.
Women, women, women?
In particular in June 2020 where in reaction to an article entitled “Opinion: creating a more egalitarian post-covid-19 world for menstruating people” the author had ironicized this inclusive formula which she accused of making cisgender women invisible. Of which act, she did not hesitate to split a tweet with transphobic hints which was quick to ignite the web:
“People who menstruate”. I’m sure we had a word for these people before. Someone help me. Women? Do we? Fimmes?
‘People who menstruate.’ I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?
Opinion: Creating a more equal post-COVID-19 world for people who menstruate https://t.co/cVpZxG7gaA
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) June 6, 2020
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In the process, the author had published a series of tweets in a threat denying the feelings and experiences of trans people, developing a deeply transphobic rhetoric, while claiming not to be:
“If sex is not a reality, then there is no same-sex attraction. If sex isn’t a reality, then what women around the world really experience is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex robs many of the ability to truly discuss their experiences. Telling the truth is not hate speech.
The idea that women like me, who have empathized with trans people for decades, who feel connected to them because they share a vulnerability as women (vulnerability to male violence), “hate” trans people because they believe that sex is real and affects our lives… that’s nonsense.
I respect the right of every trans person to live their life in the way that feels most sincere and comfortable to them. I would protest with you if you were discriminated against because of your trans identity. And at the same time, my life has been shaped by the fact that I am female. I don’t think it’s “hateful” to say that. »
But nothing seems to stop Hogwarts Legacy, which has continued to top sales since its release.