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Hogwarts Legacy designer exits project after controversy

Troy Leavitt, owner of a far-right YouTube channel, is exiting Hogwarts Legacy and is promising to address the controversy in his next video.

Ozzie Mejia

March 5, 2021 10:30 AM

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Hogwarts Legacy is in the news again and if you think it's over anything having to do with the actual game itself, then you haven't been following it very closely. Among the many reasons that the game based on the Wizarding World recently came under fire was due to the employment of Senior Producer Troy Leavitt, who ran an anti-social justice YouTube channel. As of Friday, there's one less controversy for WB Games and Avalanche Software to deal with, because Leavitt has voluntarily left the project.

1. I have made the decision to part ways with Avalanche Software. I have nothing but good things to say about the game, the dev team, and WB Games.

2. I will be releasing a YouTube Video about this soon on my channel.

— Troy Leavitt (@Troylus_true) March 5, 2021

"To clarify: I felt absolutely secure in my position," Leavitt said on Twitter (via Kotaku.) "However, I still wanted to resign for reasons that I will explain in that forthcoming video. I'm in excellent spirits and very pleased with my relationship with WB and Avalanche."

Leavitt's YouTube channel was pointed out by Did You Know Gaming's Liam Robertson, whose screenshot showed over a dozen far-right, pro-GamerGate videos. He was hired at Avalanche Software in February 2018 and was later placed on the Hogwarts Legacy game, a project already mired in controversy over the anti-transgender views of Wizarding World author J.K. Rowling. All of this continues to unfold in spite of Avalanche Software developers' efforts to try and push back against the franchise's creator and push for more inclusivity.

Leavitt promising to release a YouTube video and on this matter and add to his pile of reactionary videos ensures that this story is not going to die anytime soon. If anything, the spotlight looks like it is going to stay on Hogwarts Legacy months before a single second of gameplay is ever revealed.

Hogwarts Legacy was recently delayed into 2022. However, you can expect to hear more about this project in the months ahead, just as easily as you can guess the subject matter of Leavitt's next video. So keep it on 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?