Charity speedrunning organisation GDQ has banned Hogwarts Legacy and all other Harry Potter games, meaning that they will not feature at any future Games Done Quick events. The organisation, which hosts regular events to raise money for the Prevent Cancer Foundation, Doctors Without Borders, and other charities, has added RPG game Hogwarts Legacy to its list of “disallowed games,” as well as the entire Harry Potter series, but says this is “subject to review in the future.”
Games are added to the disallowed list if they include “content, views, or an origin that we have deemed unsuitable for our stream,” GDQ says. Although according to GDQ the list is “non exhaustive,” it features games including the original God of War from 2005, the entire Five Nights at Freddy’s series, and any games that have either an Adults Only rating or are prohibited on Twitch. You can see the full list of disallowed games below.
As reported by Game Rant, the list has now been updated to include the “Harry Potter series, including Hogwarts Legacy.” “This list is non-exhaustive and may be altered at any time at the sole discretion of the games committee and Games Done Quick management,” GDQ says.
The most recent GDQ event, Awesome Games Done Quick, held in January, featured speedruns of games including Dark Souls 2, Half-Life Alyx, and Fallout 3. It raised $2,675,985 USD (£2,224,279 GBP) for the Prevent Cancer Foundation. The next GDQ event, Frost Fatales, will begin on February 26 and include runs of Resident Evil 2 and Silent Hill 3, with donations going to the Malala Fund.
The creator of the Harry Potter series, JK Rowling, has made a number of transphobic remarks on social media in recent years. Warner Bros. has the licence to make games based on Harry Potter. While the details of that deal aren’t publicly known, and WB Games says “J.K. Rowling is not directly involved in the creation of the game”, it is likely that, as the creator and owner of the Harry Potter IP, she will earn royalties from its sales. If you’d like to learn more about transgender equality or lend your support, here are two important charities we encourage you to check out: the National Center for Transgender Equality in the US, and Mermaids in the UK.