Hogwarts Legacy discussion completely banned by major video game forum

Hogwarts Legacy has been dealt another blow on one of the major forums for video games and entertainment as the website's management has elected to ban any further discussion of the game, less than three weeks before it is expected to release.

Hogwarts Legacy is the game that Harry Potter fans the world over have been waiting for, but it might be too late for a lot of would-be players. Author J. K. Rowling's repeated transphobia marred the reception of its reveal, and after that, its lead designer left due to past "anti-fem" and "pro [Gamergate]" posts that were discovered. While Avalanche Software has stated that Rowling is "not involved in the creation of the game," the team did confer "closely with her team" and some see a purchase of Hogwarts Legacy to be an unspoken affirmation of her opinions. The author herself has said as much: when one former fan asked her how she sleeps at night knowing she's lost an audience that used to cherish the world she built, she replied, "I read my most recent royalty cheques and find the pain goes away pretty quickly."

Check out the cinematic trailer for Hogwarts Legacy here:

Over on Resetera, which is one of the biggest forums for video game and assorted other news, there was only one permitted thread for Hogwarts Legacy. While other games, movies and TV shows were allowed to have multiple threads active after announcements and such like, the forum's moderation team didn't extend these liberties to the RPG, and now they've decided that there is to be no further discussion of Hogwarts Legacy on the website.

"After continued internal discussion, we began to start outlining the issues put forth by Rowling and the game in question and each time, and as we discussed it all, we kept coming back to the simple fact that Rowling is not only a bigot but is actively pushing, in her position as a wealthy and famous individual, for legislation that will hurt trans people. That she uses the influence and money gained from her success with Harry Potter to push transphobic legislation," explained the forum's general manager. "As a reminder, we do not allow for advocating or metacommentary on content ban decisions, which are decided by the mod team. Any that we see, whether for or against, will be met with threadbans at a minimum."

Hogwarts Legacy releases for PS5, PC and Xbox Series consoles on 10 February, PS4 and Xbox One on 4 April and Nintendo Switch on 25 July.