Users slam new Harry Potter game with 7 nasty tags – “anti-Semitic, transphobic, WWII”

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The new game in the Harry Potter universe, Hogwarts Legacy, is already causing a lot of controversy on Steam a month before its release: While there are no reviews yet, angry users are finding new ways to vilify the game. They stick blatant tags on the fantasy RPG to show how critical they are of Harry Potter author JK Rowling.

How do players express their protest against the game?

  • When people have a specific, even ideological problem with a game on Steam, they usually write masses of negative reviews – this is called “review bombing”. In 2020, for example, the excellent “Monster Hunter World” was slammed in reviews because Chinese players found a scene from the film with Mila Jovovich really bad, even racist.
  • However, since Hogwarts Legacy will not be released until February 10th, 2023, the reviews on Steam are still closed.
  • That’s why Steam users took advantage of the option of assigning “tags” to a game on Steam, i.e. markings. This is also possible before the release: if only enough people select a tag, it will appear in the short description of the game on Steam.

    • Hogwarts Legacy trailer

    What were those markings? The tags Hogwarts Legacy got included not only applicable tags like “Adventure, Magic, Open World, Fantasy or RPG” but also blatant, negative tags:

  • “transphobic”
  • “Transphobia”
  • “Psychological Horror”
  • “World War II”
  • “Villian Protagonist”
  • “capitalism”
  • “anti-Semitism”

    • Steam has now apparently deleted these blatantly negative tags, but some of the earlier tags can be seen via the Internet archive “Web.Archives.org”.

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    A Jan. 9 tweet that got over 144,000 likes shows some of these negative tags.

    Protest against author JK Rowling extends to the game

    Why is the game labeled like this? The background to these negative tags against Hogwarts Legacy is the ongoing controversy surrounding Harry Potter author JK Rowling.

    Critics see her as a “transphobic, radical feminist” – Rowling bitingly defends herself against this accusation, the situation has been escalating for months.

    A German Twitch streamer calls for a boycott of Hogwarts Legacy

    Many of their critics write that Harry Potter was a cherished part of their childhood – but JK Rowling doesn’t go at all and ruins their enjoyment of the universe. She should not collect any more money from Harry Potter.

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    German Twitch streamer Shurjoka is actively calling for a boycott of the franchise despite being so fond of Harry Potter herself.

    Individual hashtags allude to parts of this controversy:

  • “Villian Protagonist” is apparently intended to make it clear that JK Rowling is seen as a villain
  • By “capitalism” you mean that you should turn off the money supply
  • “Anti-Semitism” alludes to a criticism of Harry Potter: the goblins there see some as a malicious caricature of the Jews

    • Despite this negative criticism and boycott calls, Hogwarts Legacy seems to be selling excellently on Steam:

    Hogwarts Legacy: The new Harry Potter game is a top seller on Steam a month before the release – despite the call for a boycott

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