ResetEra implements total ban on threads for promoting new Harry Potter game
Forum ResetEra bans promotional posts for the upcoming Harry Potter game Hogwarts Legacy amid the discovery that its lead designer supported Gamergate.
Over the weekend, one of the ResetEra users paid attention to Liam Robertson’s post on Twitter, where he uncovered some videos made by Hogwarts Legacy lead designer Troy Leavitt.
According to Robertson, Leavitt “used to make anti-fem and pro-GG videos.” Some of his videos have titles like “Anita’s Appropriation” and “Gamergate — thoughts of a developer.” It all caused debate on the forum.
Yesterday, ResetEra’s moderator Hecht issued a long statement from the staff, saying that the forum decided to implement a total ban on threads for promotional media for Hogwarts Legacy. It is something ResetEra has never done before.
“This is the first time we’ve done something like this and we consider this a very exceptional case,” Hecht’s message reads. “It’s not just one bigoted game designer that made the difference here. JK Rowling’s singular reach and influence, how closely that influence is tied to the Harry Potter IP, and what she chooses to do with that power, is a unique problem on top of this latest controversy.”
Journalist Jason Schreier also paid attention to the news, starting a discussion on Twitter.
ResetEra, one of the largest video game forums, is enacting “a total ban on threads for promotional media” from the new Harry Potter game in the wake of JK Rowling’s transphobic views and the recent discovery that one of the game’s lead designers is a pro-Gamergate YouTuber pic.twitter.com/D5Wpoi4WpM
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) February 24, 2021
Hogwarts Legacy is an upcoming action RPG based on the Harry Potter franchise and developed by Avalanche Software. The game has already caused controversy after JK Rowling’s comments about the transgender community. It led to Warner Bros. even issuing a statement, saying that Rowling is “not directly involved in the creation of the game.”
