Warner Bros. Interactive has confirmed that a sequel to Hogwarts Legacy, the 2023 Harry Potter game that has sold more than 22 million copies, is in development in its latest financial earnings report. The company refers to it as the “second installment” of Hogwarts Legacy, stopping short of giving it an official title. Developer Avalanche, which made the first game, is presumably the primary studio behind this sequel.
It’s not surprising that a Hogwarts Legacy sequel is happening, considering it was the best-selling game of 2023, beating out the usual top-spot holder, Call of Duty, which received a new sequel that year in the form of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III. The first game unfolds in the 1890s, a century before Harry’s saga, with players controlling a new Hogwarts student who wields a mysterious form of ancient magic, takes classes, learns spells, and unravels a conspiracy threatening the wizarding world.
Hogwarts Legacy was the top trending game search on Google in 2023. Despite the excitement the game garnered from fans, it also courted controversy due to Harry Potter series author J.K. Rowling’s inflammatory statements and actions towards and about the trans community. In 2019, Rowling began to reveal her anti-trans sentiment, expressing support for a tax specialist who made anti-trans tweets, as noted by GLAAD. In the years since, her support for anti-trans groups and anti-trans lawmaking has continued and been amplified, funded by her Harry Potter earnings. She has even created an organization dedicated to removing trans people’s rights “in the workplace, in public life, and in protected female spaces,” according to Advocate’s reporting. Last year, Rowling tweeted that she loves “when a plan comes together,” in response to a U.K. Supreme Court ruling considered an anti-trans win (and loss for the trans community). Notably, Rowling was a financial backer of the group that sued the Scottish National Parliament, resulting in this U.K. Supreme Court ruling.
All of this is to say that Rowling uses the funds she makes from the Harry Potter franchise to fund anti-trans groups and target the trans community, which makes up roughly 1% of the world’s population. Though Warner Bros. Interactive said Rowling was not involved in the creation of Hogwarts Legacy, she undoubtedly made money off of it. It remains to be seen if she’ll have any involvement with the in-development Hogwarts Legacy sequel.
Hogwarts Legacy launched on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC in February 2023, with PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch versions later that year. A Nintendo Switch 2 version was released last year.
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