Harry Potter fans have been waiting more than a decade for a video game worthy of the devoted sequel to the hit entertainment franchise. They dreamed of being able to inhabit a realistic version of the famous Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, sipping butterbeer at the Gryffindor dormitory between jaunts to the nearby village of Hogsmeade.
This vision will become reality on Friday when Hogwarts Legacy is published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. The game is one of the most anticipated of 2023 and if preorders are an indication, it will probably be one of the most profitable too. But the views on transgender people espoused by JK Rowling, the author of the original book series, have cast a shadow during launch and left longtime fans wondering if they were even going to play it. Many say they struggled to reconcile their love of the fantasy world they’ve become so attached to with its creator’s real-world politics.