Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions is only a couple months away, and before today we didn’t have a good idea what it really looked like to play. Now, a new trailer teases the fantasy sports game in action, along with famous characters and a character creator that doesn’t seem saddled with franchise creator J.K. Rowling’s transphobia.
Quidditch Champions is the answer to why sandbox RPG Hogwarts Legacy didn’t have a Quidditch mode of its own. The spin-off features a career mode and online play, including co-op and PVP. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any split-screen, which would be a huge miss for a licensed game like this. The new trailer shows players as Chasers scoring points by throwing balls through gold rings and what seems like a Seeker flying through gold rings of its own in order to catch up to the Golden Snitch.
It’s already giving some players Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup vibes, a stripped-down PS2 game that nevertheless got the job done in terms of recreating the fantasy of being a wizarding Messi. The fields, which are shown in different weather conditions including rain, look massive, so it’ll be interesting to see what the flow of each match actually is. If you miss a play is it easy to get back in time? What kind of mechanics keep you from constantly hitting breakaways? Comparisons to Rocket League are already being made, which is the best thing any sports game, Harry Potter or no, could hope for.
Unlike Rocket League, however, Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions isn’t free-to-play. It’s $30 when it comes out September 3 on PC and all consoles, though it will be free for paid PS Plus subscribers that month. The game’s developers have said there won’t be any microtransactions either. Presumably, all of the costumes, brooms, and other trinkets will be unlocked just by playing (the game will be digital-only until a physical version arrives on November 8).
The new trailer also gives a look at playable characters like Harry and Draco, as well as a character creator which appears to not breakout haircuts or outfits by gender. “All athletes are encouraged to style themselves however they desire,” a narrator says, which could be interpreted as Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions signaling its separation from Rowling on transgender rights and other inclusivity issues.
Quidditch in the books has always been portrayed as co-ed, and Hogwarts Legacy let players mix-and-match appearances in its character creator as well, with the studio going to great pains to stress Rowling wasn’t involved. Any game associated with Harry Potter remains in the shadow of its outspoken creator who continues to double-down on transphobic remarks, including on issues around sports. Especially as she continues to collect royalties on anything licensed from the books she wrote. Real-life Quidditch leagues (think Ultimate Frisbee with brooms and tackles) renamed the sport quadball to cut ties with the author.