This is what happens when you turn a reasonable discussion into an authoritarian boycott. Hogwarts Legacy has now become one of the fastest growing and selling games of all-time as it’s just hit the 12M copies sold mark, proving that authoritarian boycotts are not the way to discuss serious issues.
I don’t think the Harry Potter universe and its creator, J.K. Rowling, have ever been more popular than when the final movies and books were released. And it’s all down to a sect of authoritarian, destructive, and hateful boycotters trying to harass, bully, and demean this game from existence.
Now, I can’t go into great detail about how good or bad the game is as I’ve yet to fully finish it, but I can say that it’s exceeded my expectations thus far. All of the characters, settings, locations, items, magical spells, magical items, mythical creatures, plot, side quests, etc. have all be fantastically crafted and refined, while the developers have also managed to make a somewhat lacking story on paper to be really enthralling.
Simply put, this is an easy Game of the Year contender and should win a few of the direction, creative, and storytelling awards.
Yet, a major reason as to why this game has gotten so much coverage and attention, which has led to an astronomical 12M copies sold for over $850M of revenue for Warner Bros., is due to the extreme and frankly debase harassment a sect of “boycotters” has unleashed on those playing the game.
Whether one’s a massive streamer with thousands of subscribers and concurrent viewers on Twitch, has millions of subs and views on YouTube, or is just a regular Joe-Shmo who voiced their excitement for the game, this extreme boycotting sect has come after them all with some of the vilest harassment I’ve ever seen.
Death threats, accusations of phobias, mean insults, constant message spamming, coordinated cancellation efforts, and even a website solely dedicated to track down and list all streamers who played Hogwarts Legacy has been unleashed by this sect of social media gremlins to literally everyone who has played the game in the view of the public.
These vile fools have been so cruel in their bullying and harassment that they’ve actually caused some massive streamers and game reviewers to leave their streams crying, while others have just flat out ignored and blocked the harassers as soon as they popped up in their chats.
Why are these people so angry, might you ask? Well, it’s because these boycotters are upset over J.K. Rowling’s views of transgender people.
Yeah, they’re so mad at a billionaire author that they’ve resorted to bully and attack people who have no ties or connections to the said author or her views in the slightest.
(Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment-Hogwarts Legacy-Official Cinematic Trailer)
Does that make sense to you? No, it doesn’t for me either.
Now, I’m not going to get into what J.K. Rowling has or has not said about transgender people as I not only don’t really care about her opinions/political ideas, but I also just don’t know what they are. I’ve never been a Harry Potter superfan or have religiously followed Rowling’s social media accounts (which many of these boycotters have seemingly made their life’s objective), so I won’t give an opinion on it.
Nevertheless, I will say that bullying and harassing people for just playing a video game, which has very little connection to Rowling aside from the fact they are using her Potter universe, is flat out wrong and stupid. None of these streamers, gamers, or even the developers have said that they agree with Rowling or share her sentiments, while the developers have made it a priority to distance themselves from Rowling.
Aggressively attacking them for simply creating and/or playing a game is one of the stupidest things these boycotters could ever have done as the Harry Potter universe is now more popular than ever. Seriously, prior to this game, the last thing that can out of the universe was Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, which turned out to be the final nail in the coffin for the Fantastic Beasts franchise.
The Harry Potter universe was on a downward spiral BEFORE these boycotters (more like vile harassers) decided to make it their sole mission to bring the universe back from the brink of irrelevance.
Though, for everyone with a function, independent brain, this was obviously what everyone was expecting to happen. These harassers would get angrier and more hostile with all of the coverage the game would get on Twitch, YouTube, etc., which would then give way to even more streamers playing the game.
It’s the circle of karma.
You reap what you sow, harassers.
Images Source: Featured Image: (Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment) (Hogwarts Legacy – Official Cinematic Trailer 4K – YouTube)
In Text Image 1: (Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment) (Hogwarts Legacy – Official Cinematic Trailer 4K – YouTube)
