Featured Image Credit: Credit: Portkey Games / Hogwarts Legacy
Topics: Harry Potter, JK Rowling, Gaming
Callum Jones
Topics: Harry Potter, JK Rowling, Gaming
Gamers are threatening to boycott next year's long-awaited Harry Potter game Hogwarts Legacy in an 'antisemitism' row over a plotline in the game.
The 'Goblin Rebellion' plot will allow players to take control and battle an 'oppressed race who are fighting against their own slavery'.
The PlayStation description for the game says gamers will be able to 'decide the fate' of the magical universe and will often be tasked with difficult choices that will 'determine what they stand for'.
Hogwarts Legacy will also feature a 'possible mounting goblin rebellion', with critics saying gamers would battle in-game an 'oppressed race who are pushing back against their own... slavery'.
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Some critics have even questioned the presence of goblins in the game and claim they are based on antisemitic stereotypes.
One reviewer's thoughts on the new Harry Potter game have gone viral for his thoughts on antisemitic stereotypes, which he believes are present.
Critic Kevin Rhodes said on Reddit: "The goblins of the Harry Potter series have long been criticised as offensive Jewish stereotypes.
"With critics pointing out their control of the magical banking system, their greed, and their exaggerated facial features.
"This game where the player fights against greedy, child-abducting Jewish stereotypes."
Rhodes has urged gamers not to buy Hogwarts Legacy and called Harry Potter author JK Rowling a 'committed transphobe'.
He continued: "I beg you, please, don't buy this game. Walk away from both Rowling and the Wizarding World. Don't give Warner Brothers any more money."
Gamers have reacted to this critic in a number of ways, with one telling consumers not to buy the game amassing more than 82,000 likes.
One gamer commented on Rhodes' post saying: "Admittedly, you can choose to be a dark wizard in the game and side with the goblins. But still. It's not exactly lauded as the right option."
Another comment on Twitter read: "I know that not buying Hogwarts Legacy isn't going to stop antisemitism and transphobia. But you won't inconvenience yourself by not buying it."
Hogwarts Legacy is due to release on PlayStation, Xbox and PC on 10 February 2023, while a Nintendo Switch version is coming at a later date.
The newest Harry Potter game is set in the late 1800s and allows players to explore Hogwarts, Hogsmeade and the Forbidden Forest from the books.
A note on the game's official website says author JK Rowling is not involved with the game but does state 'her extraordinary body of writing is the foundation of all projects in the Wizarding World'.
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