Wars characters, and even the Joker have all gathered. However, the hype around Fortnite has not diminished one bit, rather it seems to be growing stronger with every collaboration. Their latest one is with the Harry Potter universe, and the name of the game is magic, to be precise, the unlockable Chocolate Frog Back Bling which is going to be sold for a limited time Microsoft Store.
Epic pulled the plug on this whole thing by showing a very nice and slightly shimmering Chocolate Frog that will be hanging on your back. What is the catch? Before it goes away, you have to unlock it. The plan is to dress up your Hogwarts house credits in Cartier style – with new clothing for Gryffindor, Slytherin, etc. It is Fortnite’s usual approach—target a huge fandom, introduce some digital treats, and then, of course, the profits from V-Bucks keep coming.
But the counterpoint is. The reception? It is not all about having fun with butterbeer and cheering. Not even close.
To start, there is doubt about how to actually get the frog. A player named Sunny (@GothamsFavSun) immediately tweeted to Epic Games asking, ‘Are we required to play the PC version from the Epic Games store and download it first before we get it?’. That appears to be the crux of the matter. Another user serenity! (@primeserenity_), simply enquired, ‘but what if we are on a console’. And Janessa (@PishPoshGamer) sound a bit downcast and comment, ‘I’m kinda bummed I can’t get the backbling but…..it is what it is I guess…’. There is this whole angle of platform-specific unlocking that is resulting in certain gamers feeling disconnected, which is a bad thing.
Then, there is the… random stuff. The enormous, impossible to overlook, and very awkward elephant in the Room of Requirement.
A lot of posts didn’t even mention the frog, but went directly to the issue. Parker Lee (@itsparkerlee) was very straightforward: ‘something transphobic is brewing’. Another gamer, Ben (@wholesomeben), linked this to other recent controversies and said, ‘With this and the Tesla car, it’s absolutely disgusting to see this game supporting people with such horrid views. Really disappointed….’. The reference is very clear: J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series, has made several public remarks regarded as anti-trans, and part of the Fortnite community disapproves of Epic indirectly supporting her through business.
The dispute was pushed into the comments section itself. One person, The Jinxler (@VixTheFur), defended his/her/their stance by saying, ‘Also, I am allowed to like Harry Potter and not like J.K. Rowling’. But this attracted a counter-argument. Brandon Young (@ChaosX27) replied, ‘If you disagree with what she has said then stop supporting anything related to Harry Potter. It’s her creation so naturally, she gets a share of everything that sells in Hogwarts.’ This is the classic moral consumption debate and it is happening right under Fortnite’s announcement tweet.
Oh, and let me take a moment to think. What was I saying? Ah yes, I was talking about the actual game stuff. In the middle of all this, the standard Fortnite Twitter madness was still going on. There were people pleading for the comeback of old skins (‘Please bring back this skin plssssss’), asking if Klombo could be their pet sidekick, and moaning about the lag and music. Shaun (@SHAUN19012) was completely losing it because he was convinced that his internet connection was not the issue. It’s a wonderful, chaotic canvas that illustrates what it means to be a live-service game community.
So, what is the way forward? It is pretty clear that Epic is relying on the longevity of the Harry Potter brand. The Chocolate Frog is a unique and fan-oriented item. House outfits customization is the default for this demographic. These are all great trying points for many gamers. Slarmi (@0xSlarmi) just mentioned, ‘i dig the chocolate frog vibe’. That’s the other side of the coin.
Notwithstanding, the backlash is real and quite vocal. It is not just the case of a few voices; it is a considerably large part of the conversation. Today’s gamers are more picky about where their money goes and who it supports, thus collaborations like this one are surfacing amidst more critical awareness and scrutiny than before. They come with lots of complications. For some, a cute frog is not worth the moral cost. For others, separating the artist from the artwork is the only way to go.
