Published , by Ozzie Mejia
Published , by Ozzie Mejia
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.
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.