New Harry Potter RPG in Development Amid J.K. Rowling Backlash

A new report by Bloomberg reveals that some of the team members working on the previously rumored Harry Potter RPG have concerns regarding J.K. Rowling’s recent controversial comments.

The report cites “two people currently working” on the rumored project who verify that a large scale (potentially open-world) Harry Potter RPG is being developed by Avalanche Software (the studio behind the Disney Infinity series). It seems that the team currently intends to release the game for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X sometime late next year. There is no word regarding potential current-gen release plans at this time.

While the report doesn’t reveal many additional details about the project, the sources did indicate that the leaked footage of the project that surfaced in 2018 was real but that many of the rumors regarding the project that have been shared online since then are false. If that footage was indeed real, then it seems that the upcoming Harry Potter game will focus on a digital version of Hogwarts (and the surrounding areas) that players will likely be able to freely roam.

It also seems that the plan was to officially reveal this upcoming Harry Potter game at E3 2020, but that event’s cancellation has pushed the official announcement back to a vague timeframe sometime later this year.

The report goes on to note that some of those close to the project have concerns about releasing the title in the wake of controversial comments made by Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling (which many believe to be anti-trans). While it doesn’t seem that there have been any talks about canceling or altering the project as a result of those comments, it also doesn’t sound like the studio’s managers have officially addressed them, which have left some of those working on the game feeling uncomfortable.

Finally, the report once again brings up the potential upcoming sale of publisher Warner Bros. Interactive, which could theoretically impact the release and development of this Harry Potter game. While the report mentions comments by a Bloomberg analyst that suggest a major project like this Harry Potter game could be impacted by such a sale, it doesn’t sound like the sources cited in that Bloomberg article offered any updates regarding that situation.

Taking all of this information into account, it doesn’t appear that anyone is currently deviating from the plan to release a next-gen Harry Potter RPG sometime next year, but given the fact that there are several unknowns surrounding this project (and the fact that it hasn’t officially been revealed), it also doesn’t seem anyone is willing or able to make any guarantees regarding the long-term future of that game.