Warner Bros. Games president David Haddad has responded to criticism and concerns over the upcoming Harry Potter RPG, Hogwarts Legacy.
The Harry Potter franchise has, as a whole, faced controversy over the past few years due to comments from the series’ author and creator, J K Rowling.
Rowling has been accused of making transphobic and anti-trans statements across social media, leading many to turn away from the beloved franchise in protestation of her words.
Hogwarts Legacy was unveiled to the world earlier this year during Sony’s State of Play event, and immediately WB Games’ studio and developer Avalanche Software came under fire for the upcoming title.
During a recent employee Q and A at WB Games, president David Haddad spoke about the backlash, with the comments then being shared to social media by Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier.
The statement, evidenced above, reads: “The way I think I’d like to do it is, I’d like to echo something you’ve heard from our most senior executive leadership.
“While JK Rowling is the creator of Harry Potter, and we are bringing that to life with the power of Portkey [Games, publisher], in many place, she’s a private citizen also. And that means she’s entitled to express her personal opinion on social media.
“I may not agree with her, and I might not agree with her stance on a range of topics, but I can agree that she has the right to hold her opinion.”
It’s not clear how well Hogwarts Legacy will fare when it launches on current and next-gen consoles sometime in 2021. Many gamers and Harry Potter fans are already pledging to boycott the game, though we’ve seen in the past that such boycotts tend to have little to no impact on sales.
Featured Image Credit: WB Games