Professional video game streamers have come under fire recently for playing the “Hogwarts Legacy” video game, according to multiple clips of the gamers’ livestreams.
Streamers have been accused of transphobia over their choice to play the game, and have also faced name-calling, harassment and online bullying over their refusal to boycott the game. J.K. Rowling, the author of the “Harry Potter” series, has become the target of criticism over her comments in June 2020 about transgender individuals.
In a viral video, popular progressive streamer duo GirlfriendReviews, whose real names are Shelby and Matt, stopped their stream at one point to address the harassment they said they were experiencing while playing the game.
“I’m almost thinking of going offline or, like … I’m barely into the second combat here, and every time I look at chat, it’s just … the conversation is just bothering me,” Matt says, according to a clip shared on Twitter.
In a second viral video, GirlfriendReviews addressed the outrage on their stream again. In this video, the girlfriend of the male streamer was seemingly brought to tears.
“I will personally ban you if you don’t give it a rest,” Shelby said.
“We’re doing our job, you know,” Matt said. “You don’t need to make us feel bad.”
Youtuber GirlfriendReviews, which is a more progressive voice in gaming, is struggling to stream Hogwarts Legacy as their audience attacks them & accuses them of being TERFs all because they’re playing the new Harry Potter game lmao pic.twitter.com/CyQahQSkqv
— Michael (@LegacyKillaHD) February 7, 2023
Another streamer, ArielJade, fought back against the onslaught of criticism she received online. In a profanity-laced rebuttal, she told her audience she would not stop playing the game and would start banning subscribers if the hate continued.
“Go ahead and talk about it … This is my escape. It has been my escape. It will continue to be my escape,” she said.
Professional video game review sites have had to release disclaimers over their reviews of “Hogwarts Legacy.” Engadget reviewer Jessica Conditt released an article titled, “Why I’m Reviewing ‘Hogwarts Legacy,'” in which she said it was “slightly frightening” to give the game a positive review due to the online vitriol she anticipated she would receive.
IGN also released a disclaimer on its review of the game. “Our job is to answer the question of whether or not we find Hogwarts Legacy to be fun to play and why; whether it’s ethical to play is a separate but still very important question.”
“Hogwarts Legacy” has already broken streaming records on Twitch, according to gaming news outlet Dexerto. The game reached 1.2 million viewers on the live streaming service as of Feb. 7, 12 times higher than FortNite. The game also overtook Cyberpunk’s record for being the most-streamed single-player video game in Twitch history.