Hogwarts Legacyis currently one of the most highly anticipated new releases, due to its aesthetics and the fact that the gameplay loop seems promisingly engaging and fun. Players can fully customize their character, choose their house, build relationships with other characters, and explore a world inspired byHarry Potter’s Wizarding Worldwith a completely original story that doesn’t touch too much on the material from J. K. Rowling’s books.Hogwarts Legacycomes with a well-designed combat system that allows people to cast their spells and interact with the environment at the same time, creating a unique combination that should provide a lot of freedom.
Despite everything thatHogwarts Legacypromises to deliver, the development team haven’t been very talkative about Quidditch and its potential inclusion as a sport that NPCs play, or even one that players can engage with. Rumors surrounding the game claim thatQuidditch will not be playable inHogwarts Legacy, and while that would be a potential missed opportunity, it also makes sense for a number of reasons. Chief among them is the fact that Quidditch as a sport played in the real world has changed its name to Quadball following controversies around J. K. Rowling.
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Why Hogwarts Legacy Cutting Quidditch Makes Sense
It’s little surprise that Quidditch became a real-life sport followingHarry Potter’s worldwide success that grew a massive fanbase of all ages. However, theHarry Potterfan community has been dealing withcontroversies concerning J. K. Rowling’s opinions about trans people, leading to a lot of heated arguments on social media especially. One of the several consequences of this is that the former Major League Quidditch organization, now Major League Quadball, decided to change the sport’s name for copyright reasons and to distance itself from Rowling’s transphobia.
In the books and the movies,Quidditch is great to seebecause it’s an innovative concept that pulls from myths about witches riding brooms, and it would be refreshing to see that gameplay implemented inHogwarts Legacy. However, it also makes sense to cut it completely, as either adding Quidditch with its original name or changing the name to Quadball could have a negative impact onHogwarts Legacyand its fans by making it seem the developers are taking a political stance.
Not introducingQuidditch inHogwarts Legacycould also be a good thing when it comes to delivering on promises it made early on, as broomstick sports are so complex that they could have been a risk. Quidditch is likely difficult to add to a game that already focuses so much on exploration, spell duels, and crafting, andHogwarts Legacy’s recent delay announcement shows the team is already pushing itself to make such an expansive experience. Cutting Quidditch could not only be a good strategic move to avoid backlash surrounding series creator J. K. Rowling, but also help polish the game without overloading it with too many features.
Yet, this doesn’t mean that Quidditch will never be a part ofHogwarts Legacy, assuming rumors about it are true. Quidditch could come further down the road if the developers want to add expansions, which would still pose the issue about the magical game’s name, but it wouldn’t have to be dealt with at launch. As much as it might pain some fans to not have this unique, magical sport included in the game, it may be for the best - at least for the time being.
Hogwarts Legacylaunches on February 10 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, with a Switch version also in development.
