I’m pretty sure Armando is well aware of the effects his choices have! Most adults are, especially the ones who put a lot of thought into those choices. I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t derail this threads by challenging his decision and – in my opinion – insulting his intelligence. Those of us who opt to skip certain games for political reasons shouldn’t have to defend our choices at every turn.
That said, I appreciate your perspective and if you’d like to continue the discussion of the effects of personal boycotts, there’s probably a more appropriate thread?
Yeah, this game is hugely hyped. I’ve watched a couple videos and previews and it looks gorgeous. If I was a Harry Potter fan I’d be over the moon about the incredible detail they lovingly added to Hogwarts. I can imagine people buying the game just to wander around the place, like those old Star Trek games.
Gameplay seems uninspiring but really, not the point.
…I want to believe it’s selling because it looks like a Harry Potter AAA game and there are lots of Harry Potter fans out there that also likes videogames. Most people aren’t social activists that will boycott games for ideological reasons, but also most people aren’t transphobic shits that will buy a freaking 60e game just to spite trans people[ I mean, enough as to get on the top1 bestsellers] . This latter idea is so hyperbolic that I have to dismiss it.
Most people don’t enter in a Steam discussion forum, ever, maaaybe if they have a technical issue, but that means they for sure won’t enter in one for a game that isn’t even released. So right now it’s pretty much ‘vocal minority’.
In fact, I had no idea there were Steam forums already for a pre-order game until today when I read Knightsaber’s post, and went searching for it (it was not easy to find from the Steam store page).
I’m fairly hyped but not enough to pre-order. Want to verify how the performance is on the PS5. Also, I’m trying to make it through Witcher 3 before I move on to the next game. We’ll see how that goes!
Anyway, the Steam forum was just an example. The real fun is on the subreddits, the Twitter groups of ‘I stand with JK Rowling’, (I assume Facebook or whatever it’s called now), it’s just mass amounts of people that are pre-ordering the game to ‘trigger the libs’.
I’m wildly guessing most of the PC kids doing this will refund it after it goes live because Steam is pretty nice about their refund policy.
It’s a whole mess at this point and it’s dumb. But that’s probably why this has an extra helping of pre-orders.
Most people aren’t social activists that will boycott this game. There are some. You can catch yourself a lifetime ban on ResetEra for even mentioning the title, but that’s because it’s ResetEra. There is, unfortunately, a whole mess of people that are doing this for kicks because they think it will win some transphobia-based contest that doesn’t exist.
Anyway.
The game looks too dodgy-dodgy combat for me to enjoy too much and I will wait for reviews.
TBH, I really enjoyed the first EA Harry Potter game, which came out before the movies, so they had to imagine Hogwarts rather than conform to the movie images/style. They also had some fun stuff in the various Hogwarts classes. It wasn’t until the Order of the Phoenix game that they had another good game.
Yeah, I had no idea until today there was such a ridiculous movement to pre-order just to be trolls. J.K. Rowling wasn’t even directly involved with this game – but it’s her world, I’m sure she’ll make some money off of it.
I understand those who are skipping it to make a stance, but… I’m just too damn excited to create my own wizard and explore Hogwarts. I’ve wanted this game forever.
She has a heavy hand in almost all of her contracted partnerships, more than most IP owners. She had enough power to demand Universal make their vendors like Coca-Cola and Baskin Robbins keep their branding off products sold in the Hogwarts/Diagon Alley area of the the theme park. Not even Disney does that in their Star Wars areas.
Yeah, I played the PC version, and I do like my 3d platformers (won’t play side scrollers at all, it just isn’t the same). Still have the PC version somewhere. Might even have played the second one too. I had forgotten about Fred and George constantly asking for Bertie Bott’s Beans tho! That was fun to see.
Geez, really? This game will either be a huge hit or a notable flop, and people are going to want to talk about it. Why wouldn’t they just threaten to ban people who bring up politics in that thread?
One of my good friends posted something on Twitter along the lines of “if you buy Hogwarts Legacy you can just unfollow me now”. I don’t quite understand why after many years of JK Rowling controversy, THIS is the hill everyone’s gotta die on. Hell, as I understand it, there’s even a trans character generator option in this game.
I think for a lot of people, it hasn’t been “many” years since JK showed her colors about trans folks. She only became vocal about it on Twitter in June of 2020. Most people would’ve guessed that she was an LGBTQ ally before that due to her tweets and comments about Trump and Brexit, but it turns out she wanted to remove the T all along.
I guess it only feels like many years…but still,.there have been a handful of notable HP licensed products out there in the last couple years. This seems noisier than usual but maybe that’s just the frequency I’m tuned into.
I’m skipping the game in large part because of Rowling and in smaller part because I have the backlog from hell. Maybe I’ll snag it some year when it’s on a deep sale and Rowling’s @$$holishness has faded a bit. I don’t begrudge anyone their purchasing choices, and frankly if Rowling wasn’t so damn proud of her bigotry then I could overlook it, myself.
rant for anyone who cares to read,
I have no illusions that her missing out on whatever cut of my miniscule dollars will cause her heart to grow three sizes, but from my perspective it’s not simply a question of supporting someone with different beliefs or values. Rather, it’s an issue of supporting someone using such a loud voice to convey them. I believe this helps form something of a “moral shield” for those who feel the same, somewhat insulating their own bigotry from societal pressure to change. That’s where the harm comes from, IMHO, and it’s why I will join the small crowd saying “nah.”
That said, the game does look good so I hope the day comes soon when Rowling decides to just STFU so everyone can take my money, lol.
