Harriet Potter - A game changer?

They got paid but also we know full well if the game underperformed WB aren't going to take responsibility or say we should have seen this coming, they will just close that studio and fire a lot of people. (Not saying that as in everyone should go buy it that's just the likely outcome)

Have WB ever said anything about her recently? I'm guessing no? Or was that one of the reasons for them killing the recent films? Or was that just because 2 and 3 bombed?

I know the studio avoided talking about her just saying they wanted to make this game for everyone.

Well, I think that is just the public facing side of it. Pretty certain I've seen mention of WB being in talks with her about next steps with the franchise. There has supposedly been acknowledgement internally that Fantastic Beasts isn't going to continue, but I haven't had the impression from what I've heard about these conversations that they are trying to ditch her involvement going forward, even relegating her to an executive producer credit with no creative control. The impression is that she will still be calling some shots, be that as a writer or just having general oversight.

Whether that is because WB think she is worth keeping hold of despite the controversies, or because she has said to them that it is either her and the franchise or nothing I guess nobody knows outside of the negotiation room.

One of the things I value about Font Geek - on a long and distinguished list - is that we can disagree about stuff like this in civil, adult fashion. There's no need for a blanket, "If you have any interest in this game whatsoever, you're a raging transphobe!" ban on mentioning Hogwarts Legacy, a la ResetEra; there's also no need for a blanket, "If you don't buy this game, you're a [transphobic slur] sympathiser, you woke libtard cuck!" stance, a la NeoGAF (I'm guessing).

In short, I won't judge anyone here who buys the game in question, 'cause I trust that a) you have your reasons, and b) whatever said reasons may be, they're not rooted in anti-trans bigotry and/or "owning the libs."

As for me, I haven't purchased the game, and have no plans to do so in the future; however, I can't claim any White Liberal Ally points for this, as I wouldn't have bought it even if JKR hadn't become such a toxic asshat. (My interest in Harry Potter died in 2003, when I read the fifth book and absolutely *hated* it.)

Except this guy: kotaku.com/hogwarts-legacy-lead-designer-used-to-run-anti-social-j-1846316222

I wouldn't watch a film that Kevin Spacey made now and unfortunately it's ruined his older ones for me, which is a pain as I adored American Beauty.

I will still by Ubi games as they are an awful employer but they aren't constantly throwing punches at a part of society that already has a horrific suicide rate and is the most bullied.

Everyone has their personal line of what they can tolerate as a consumer and shouldn't be judged on it (exceptions are of course out there).

Well, most of us.

I respect anyone with the conviction to not buy/do something they want in support of a cause. If people do buy it, I'm probably not going to give it much thought or even remember, to be honest, unless they make a big performance out of it

"I read my most recent royalty cheques and find the pain goes away pretty quickly."

Buy the game, play the game, don't feel bad about it, but let's not pretend it doesn't make a difference.

Personally, I don't have a huge issue with enjoying works by people who turn out to be problematic (though of course there is a big scale there).
I wouldn't have any ethical issue with watching American Beauty, for example. Though I might feel differently about the character.

I do think twice about something that will give money to them, though that's not always clear.
If I already owned a book by an author who did something scummy, I'd have no issue with reading it. I might not want to buy new books by them, though I might buy them used.

I'd also draw the line about consuming something that espouses those views.
As such, if my kids want to enjoy Harry Potter I'm not going to refuse to buy them, but I'll often buy second hand if it's not too difficult.
But I'm not going to be buying her shitty detective books about trans murderers or whatever.

The boycott (on buying the game) has been great for raising awareness of what a scumbag JKR is. I have full respect for people doing it and talking about it, and honestly I would like to think I'd have thought harder about my decision to buy it had I been better informed.

I wont be buying anything with her name on it from now on (generally that's easy as its mostly shit).

In regards to the game, its tricky as its very well made, fun and as others have said, seemingly very inclusive and positive. I would like to see a specific acknowledgement from the devs that they reject her views, I think that would be very powerful. Ultimately she should be held to account.

That's where I find the lack of coverage from certain outlets baffling. This is when they should be talking about these things, and to stay silent is bullshit. I honestly don't get it at all. Even the crazy Wired 'review' is at least doing what it sets out to do and discussing the problem.

I certainly feel a bit icky about my purchase, and that's fine. I feel icky watching Polanski films (Chinatown is one of my favourite films) or reading Lovecraft, and to a lesser extent playing games based on his lore.

The difference is JKR has tremendous power and influence, and she should be made to suffer for how she uses that privilege. The boycott absolutely hurts her, and that's good.

The Two Jakes is great, but not better! I think Jack is probably a bit of a letch, and almost certainly shagged teens. Par for the course really.

Lets be honest it's not just the transphobia, there's a shitload of problematic stuff in HP, from the quite obviously antisemtic depiction of the goblins through to the "maybe slavery isn't bad if the slaves claim to like it" bullshit, the borderline racist names chosen for any non-white characters and that the general theme of the story is "boy who sees first hand all the corruption and bigotry in the world's goal in life is to join the wizard gestapo".

It's a semi interesting point that a lot of other media also has some shady people involved, but the profile and status and distance from product to outcome matters somehwat. Buying a Pink Floyd record isn't directly funding the Russian war effort, because it's not like all the Russian bots look up to him and he doesn't have that kind of influence in the in the same way that purchasing HP stuff directly funds an extremely prominent voice of hate in JKR.

Like, buy a Floyd album and it's like "shame Waters is a cunt these days", buy HP and it's like "shame the creator of this is a transphobic and probably racist bigot who actively seeks to embolden communities that want trans people to either be second class members of society or dead".

When did it all go so wrong?

The world was definitely a better place when JK's antics were limited to pretending that characters were gay when pointed out that there weren't any in the books or that there were totally also Jewish people in Hogwarts and look they have sterotypical names too and mostly everyone could just agree all the later books were overlong shite full of deus ex machinas that were plainly trying to make it look like it'd been planned for ages.

Simpler times.