Hogwarts Legacy is perhaps one of the most anticipated games of the decade. Ever since Harry Potter became the most important literary phenomenon of the 20th and 21st century, the fandom has not stopped demanding a video game that could live up to it. Because, although the original movies have their fans, they have never been able to portray so worthily what it is like to enter this magical world.
However, the launch of the game has not been as worthy as expected, and JK Rowling is to blame. The author has been the protagonist of some years of controversy due to her transphobia (hatred of the trans community), and it is something that a large majority of her initial followers have denounced.
What have the streamers done?
This controversy, about which even Daniel Radcliffe has spoken to defend the trans community, has caused many to refuse to play Hogwarts Legacy. The main reason is that Rowling will see money from every purchase of the title, due to the purchase of the rights to her books, and many believe that she will then use it to attack trans people.
This, of course, has triggered all kinds of comments and reactions from the public. But what have the streamers, who are perhaps the most affected here, done? Well, in short, nothing.
Although there has been some specific positioning, this video by Alexelcapo sums up the streamers’ position perfectly:
In his case, a video game streamer who does speak his mind and has spoken out about Rowling’s hatred of the collective, he believes he cannot play because “he owes it to his 11-year-old self”. Likewise has happened with most streamers. One only has to look at Twitch to see that everyone is playing the Harry Potter game en masse, so it seems the supposed boycott hasn’t worked at all.
In the case of Girlfriend Reviews, a couple of international streamers known for their support of causes of this style, the issue has gone further. After receiving a code of the game, they tested it live and began to receive criticism of all kinds, until Shelby, one of the two streamers, ended up crying. But, to clear this up with the community, they ended up raising money for The Trevor Project (a non-profit organization that supports the LGTBIQ+ community) while playing the game:
This fight has reached such an extent that a page has even been created where you can search if a streamer has played Hogwarts Legacy live. Evidently, with the intention of boycotting it afterwards:
Currently, the website is disabled, probably because of the controversy that has brought with it. But, even though one side has advocated this boycott and generated this controversy because of JK Rowling, the game is the most played on the streaming platform and has all the signs that it is going to achieve extraordinary sales.
