Looks Like You’ll Need to Wait a Little Longer to Enroll in Hogwarts
Harry Potter’s had a tricky couple of years. Apart from JK Rowling hitting headlines around the world for her questionable stance on trans rights – which have caused calls for boycotts for Hogwarts Legacy from some LGBT+ groups – but the latest film in the Harry Potter franchise –Â Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald – received mixed reviews from critics and fans alike. To make matters worse, the franchise suffered from its association with actor Johnny Depp, with his detractors criticizing Warner Brothers’ choice not to recast him for the second film, and his supporters criticizing their decision to do so for the third.
— Hogwarts Legacy (@HogwartsLegacy) January 13, 2021
In a lot of ways, Hogwarts Legacy was the biggest upcoming entry in the franchise. Being mostly removed from the film franchise means it avoids the issues surrounding Depp, and the fact that developers are allegedly working with LGBT+ groups is bound to help address the concerns of both the trans community and its supporters.
Unfortunately, Hogwarts Legacy has been delayed to some time in 2022, as announced on the game’s official Twitter account.
The announcement has caused mixed reactions, with some criticizing the decision to announce the game’s release date during the pandemic and then push it back – I suppose Covid is the default reasoning for most to fall back on – while others hope that Rowling will retract her comments and apologize to the trans community prior to the game’s release. The game has been in development for a while – at least 2018, when gameplay footage first leaked – so development is likely be in the later stages, and we’ll hopefully get the game closer to the beginning of 2022 than its ending.
The good news for fans is that 2022 will be one of the biggest years in the franchise’s history, with the release of Hogwarts Legacy as well as the third movie in the Fantastic Beasts movie, and it’s not like we don’t have a lot of games to look forward to in 2021, and if Cyberpunk 2077 has taught us anything, it’s that it’s better for developers to wait until a game is ready than rush its production to meet deadlines.
What’s your Hogwarts house? Let us know in the comments, on Twitter, or on Facebook.