Hogwarts Legacy protestors are weaponizing end-game spoilers

Hogwarts Legacy spoilers are being deliberately spread around the internet in the latest in an ongoing series of protests against the game.

The game isn't officially out until later today, but ever since Hogwarts Legacy early access began earlier this week, players have been battling endgame spoilers. Posts on the game's subreddit have flagged attempts to share two key details in threads elsewhere on Reddit, as well as via Metacritic. On Twitter, several posts about the game have ended up with spoiler-filled posts as their top replies. Arguably the most devious prank is an edit to the game's cover art, which claims to reveal a 'hidden' detail about the game, but drops the same spoilers into place.

While I won't discuss or link to the spoilers themselves, they take the form of a couple of sentences outlining key moments and reveals around certain characters, leaving little room for interpretation around those events. In format, they're similar to Fallout 4's spoiler campaign, which displayed the choice present at the end of that game's main campaigns in similarly direct terms.

Some have suggested that the spoilers are part of a long tradition of Harry Potter having its ending ruined, but with general release not yet upon us and last-gen versions of the game still a substantial amount of time away, it's understandable why those getting their story spoiled might not be too impressed with that. 

The move is the latest in a series of protests around Hogwarts Legacy that have seen fundraising and boycott efforts, but which have also drawn backlash amid claims of bullying and witch-hunting.

The release of Hogwarts Legacy has been the subject of criticism and debate due to J.K. Rowling's public stance on gender identity, which continues to challenge the inclusivity at the heart of the Harry Potter community. Here is our explainer on the Hogwarts Legacy controversy.