Games Done Quick swiftly decided which game is the Undesirable No. 1. The video game livestreaming charity organization has banned Hogwarts Legacy from future speedrunning GDQ livestream events.
If you take a good look at GDQ’s website, Hogwarts Legacy landed on the “Disallowed Games” list over the weekend, which means it cannot be submitted for consideration and will not make an appearance at upcoming event livestreams, including the event that will raise funds for the Malala Fund from February 26 to March 4. GDQ extended the ban to other games in the Harry Potter series as they contain “content, views, or an origin that we have deemed unsuitable for our stream.”
While GDQ gave no explanation for banning Hogwarts Legacy and other Harry Potter games beyond that disclaimer, it may be in response to the controversy regarding J.K. Rowling and her views on transgender people. The Escapist’s own Elise Avery recently explained the link between the game and Wizarding World creator’s transphobia.
GDQ placing the hotly debated Warner Bros. game on the Disallowed Games list comes five months after it decided to host Awesome Games Done Quick (AGDQ) online instead of an in-person venue in Florida. At the time, the organization said it turned the event into a virtual one (which ran from January 8 through January 15) for political and safety reasons, citing Florida’s mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic and the discriminatory “Don’t Say Gay” law that went into effect last summer.
Hogwarts Legacy joins some other banned games on the GDQ Disallowed Games list, including games that carry an “Adults Only” rating, God of War (2005), the Five Nights at Freddy’s series, and Ion Fury. However, Harry Potter games and Five Nights at Freddy’s both carry an asterisk, saying they are “Subject to further review in the future.”
