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Hogwarts Legacy to include expanded gender options following trans community backlash

While J.K. Rowling's views are well-known, Avalanche Software looks to be expanding Hogwarts Legacy's character creation options in an effort to fight for inclusivity.

Ozzie Mejia

March 2, 2021 11:40 AM

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There's been a lot of controversy surrounding Hogwarts Legacy, the upcoming video game set in the Wizarding World. For one thing, author J.K. Rowling seems really insistent on dying on an anti-transgender hill. That's put a dark cloud over her work and, by extension, this game and its development team. While Rowling's anti-trans views are publicly known, the team at Avalanche Software are working to express their own views. With that said, the Hogwarts Legacy character creator will expand its options. That includes theoretically being able to create a transgender character.

Some members of the Hogwarts Legacy dev team had been pushing hard for this, uncomfortable with Rowling's position and rattled by the effects she has had on a game they've put a lot into

— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) March 2, 2021

The story comes from Jason Schreier at Bloomberg, who notes that Hogwarts Legacy players will be able to attach masculine or feminine voices to their character, regardless of their gender or body type. Schreier's report is based on anonymous sources within Avalanche Software, who are not authorized to speak with the press. Nonetheless, players are still presented with a binary "witch" or "wizard" choice, which will determine their school placement and how they're addressed by the game's characters.

These character creations options are not extraordinary by any means. However, they represent a sincere effort by the Avalanche team to push back against the views of Wizarding World creator Rowling. Schreier notes that Avalanche developers continue to fight to make Hogwarts Legacy as inclusive as possible. The character customization options look to be the fruits of their struggle so far, though the team is also fighting for a transgender character to make it into the game. Warner Bros. has not commented on the matter, as they remain hesitant to comment about Rowling's views and involvement in Hogwarts Legacy.

Will the Avalanche team's efforts for inclusivity help clear up some of that dark cloud hovering over Hogwarts Legacy? The build-up for this game has not been ideal for anybody, but there's still a lot of time before the game releases. It was recently delayed to 2022. There's a lot more that can still happen between now and then, so stay tuned to Shacknews for the latest.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?