Hogwarts Legacy was released in 2020 and has since been dogged online by its association with J.K. Rowling, the author of Harry Potter and creator of the wizarding world stage. Her views on trans issues have been so controversial and widely reported that Warner Bros. is desperate to clarify that she had nothing to do with the game's creation, and now, just weeks before its February 10 release, the de facto gaming forum, Restera has banned all discussion regarding the game.

A statement posted by ResetEra General Manager B-Dubs on behalf of the moderation team (opens in new tab) reads:

"After continued internal discussion, we began outlining the issues presented by the rolling and the game in question, each time, And in discussing it all, we kept coming back to the simple fact that Rowling is not only a bigot, but in her position as a wealthy and well-known individual, is actively promoting legislation that hurts trans people. She is using the influence and money from her success with 'Harry Potter' to promote transphobic legislation."

ResetEra had previously banned "promotional" activities for the game in February 2021: that is, no threads about announcements or new trailers, no promotional threads, no "fluffy articles about its features. Now it is banned outright.

"The mod team has decided to extend the ban on promoting the Hogwarts game to the game itself: both OT and discussions about this game will be banned."

The statement concludes with a warning to the community about commenting on the mod team's decision to ban content or arguing to overturn that decision; as is standard for this type of post on RestEra, this thread does not allow replies.

This may be unprecedented, but it is not completely unexpected; ResetEra's stance has been deeply skeptical of the game since day one, and the general mood of the forum can best be described as left-leaning. 2021's promotional ban on The Hogwarts Legacy. was triggered when a ResetEra member discovered that the producer had a history of making anti-social justice videos. This producer has since resigned (opens in new tab).

ResetEra itself is a forum founded as a breakaway from NeoGAF, which still exists but has arguably been demoted in the pecking order. As of this writing, the top stickied thread in the Game Discussion section (open in new tab) is the Hogwarts Legacy meme contest, and the top user thread is about starting to preload games.

The controversy surrounding Rowling's views is unlikely to subside, especially as it intersects with an ongoing cultural struggle: the biggest story in British politics today is the UK government's blocking of the Scottish Parliament's gender recognition bill (opens in new tab). Rowling has been a vocal critic of this bill.

Rowling, of course, continues to make money from the Harry Potter and Wizarding World franchises. However, the blacklisting of The Hogwarts Legacy is unlikely to have any meaningful impact on the author. Incidentally, there are various estimates of J.K. Rowling's net worth, the most commonly cited being around $1 billion. Even if this were inaccurate, it could be said that she has no ivory back.

Warner Bros. is caught between a rock and a hard place. Harry Potter is one of the company's greatest treasures, a series that has generated more revenue than Batman and others. This is vague, but by some estimates, Harry Potter alone is larger than the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. Leaving Harry Potter is not an option. But Harry Potter is clearly aware that its creator's contemporary reputation has been tarnished: the entire Wizarding World was titled J.K. Rowling's Wizarding World when it was first created.

Media giants can say that Rowling has nothing to do with the Hogwarts Legacy, and, barring bank transfers, that is certainly true. But every Harry Potter product is inseparable from the author who created this world and its characters, and at least for ResetEra, the Hogwarts Legacy means one thing: Expelliarmus