WB Games president David Haddad has said that while he may not agree with J.K. Rowling’s stance on certain topics, she’s a private citizen who’s free to express her opinions on social media.
Haddad said this during a company Q&A in response to employees’ questions about the recent backlash surrounding Hogwarts Legacy. For the uninitiated, Hogwarts Legacy is based on Rowling’s work, and the writer’s ongoing comments about the transgender community continue to draw ire. WB Games previously tried to assuage concerns by stating that Rowling isn’t directly involved in the game’s development. However, the publisher stopped short of confirming whether Rowling would receive royalties from sales or not.
According to Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, Haddad’s statement is as follows:
Not a lot I can comment on other than, since we did get so many [questions], I wanted to be responsive the best way I could.
The way I think I’d like to do it is, I’d like to echo something you’ve heard from our most senior executive leadership.
While J.K. Rowling is the creator of Harry Potter and we are bringing that to life with the power of Portkey, in many places, she’s a private citizen also. And that means she’s entitled to express her personal opinion on social media. I may not agree with her, and I might not agree with her stance on a range of topics, but I can agree that she has the right to hold her opinions.
Hogwarts Legacy is in development for current and next-gen consoles, with a release planned for 2021.
[Source: Jason Schreier]
