I see a LOT of people with real weird beliefs about the game industry trying to justify buying Hogwarts Legacy without admitting they just don't care about trans people. Stuff like "supporting the game designers."

Let's talk about the realities of the game industry...

So yes, some small indie game studies DO pay their game devs, artists, QA, community managers, and writers—their crew—in royalties, but AAA studios do not. It's just not a model that can work at that scale, where hundreds or thousands of people contribute to a game's launch.

The crew on HL are paid salaries or contracting fees. None of them will see an extra dime based on how well the it sells.

Most of them will be laid off once the game launches regardless of how well it does. Because the game industry works on a broken scale-up/scale-back model

The only people who will profit if the game does very well are the publishers—WB Games—and maybe the studio, who already have plenty of money and didn't really handle the direct work of making the game.

And being a licensed game, a percentage of every sale goes straight to Joanne, and you know she’ll use part of her wealth and influence to hurt people like me. It’s not a 1-for-1 payout, but every sale not only pays her but also tells other powerful people that she has influence

The This is you are still ALLOWED to buy this game. No matter how much conservatives whine, there is no all-powerful trans lobby that will destroy you for thoughtcrimes.

BUT buying this game increases Joanne’s wealth and influence and ability to hurt trans people. You can’t pretend it doesn’t and get angry at your trans friends for seeing this as you valuing a game over their safety

So if you really want to play this game—and I don’t blame you—then you need to think about the ways you can do it ethically.

The surest way is buy a secondhand copy a few months after it comes out. None of that money goes back to Joanne.

If you wait a few years for it to go on super-sale for $15, much LESS money goes to Joanne.

Similarly, if you and four friends split the cost and share the game between you, Joanne makes less money and sales stay lower

I’ve seen a streamer claim they’ll donate the money they make streaming it to a trans charity, which helps a *little* but it’s not a zero-sum game. The charities are starting at a disadvantage to a billionaire with extensive government contacts and that maintains JK’s prestige

You can also wait to purchase the game as part of a Humble Bundle package. HB lets you adjust how much of the sale price goes to charity vs the developer. Again, this increases the general sales, but means no money goes to Joanne

The ultimate goal is to show WB Games and other developers that Joanne is a toxic asset, someone who costs them more money than she helps them make. Her last two movies flopped, so we’re on the edge of that curve.

And unlike most trans women, I’m not going to tell you to just pirate the game, if only because pirate sites—for all their idealized mythology—don’t give a damn about which companies they hurt and do more damage to small indie studios than AAA studios