Despite controversies surrounding Fantastic Beasts movies and JK Rowling's political beliefs, interest in the Harry Potter franchise remains high. A deal with Hasbro for primary licensing rights of board games and toy products suggests a new era for the series. However, a crossover with Magic: The Gathering seems unlikely due to differing magic systems and potential controversy surrounding goblins.
Although perhaps not as ubiquitous as it once was, the Harry Potter franchise is still a massive cultural icon. While several terrible Fantastic Beasts movies and series creator JK Rowling's increasingly controversial political beliefs have turned some off the series, a trailer for the HBO Potter series still garnered 11 million views, showing there is still interest.
As the series prepares to relaunch its live-action adaptations, it seems Harry Potter games will also enter a new era. Earlier this year, as reported by GamesRadar, Hasbro made a multi-year deal for the primary licensing rights to create Harry Potter board games, as well as other toy products.
As the GamesRadar piece points out, Hasbro also owns Wizards of the Coast, meaning Harry Potter crossovers for popular games like Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons are a real possibility. Before we speculate further about what this could mean, it's important to point out that Rowling retains licensing rights for the books, meaning any Hasbro Potter products will be limited to the existing films, HBO series, and Fantastic Beasts.
Harry Potter X Magic The Gathering Is Almost Guaranteed Now Magic: The Gathering has seen massive success with its Universes Beyond sets, with the game's Final Fantasy crossover being the best-selling set at the time of writing. Given this success, it seems highly unlikely that Hasbro would miss a chance to create a Harry Potter set while they retain the primary license to create board games.
While this would likely attract some new fans to Magic, as a long-time fan of the game, I have to admit this crossover sounds largely unappealing. Harry Potter's magic system is very weak compared to the level of spells typically cast in Magic: The Gathering. One of the series' most powerful spells, avada kedavra, is essentially a bland removal spell.
There also isn't really a wide enough range of interesting spells to fill out an entire Magic set, especially when considering that it would be limited to what was seen on screen, given how the rights are split up. The set would likely be another stampede of legendary creatures, this time mostly humans, nine of whom, the Weaselys, come from the same family.
Although goblins are a staple of Magic: The Gathering, I would be surprised if Wizards of the Coast wanted to touch Rowling's depiction of them in their set. There has been many a think-piece comparing Rowling's goblins to anti-Semitic depictions of Jewish people, and given that Wizards of the Coast has been making a concerted effort to be mindful about how they depict fantasy races, I would be shocked if they wanted to wade into this controversy.
My hope would be Hasbro shows some restraint and just releases some Secret Lair products instead of an entire set. There'll Be Loads More Harry Potter On The Way Regardless of how a seemingly inevitable Magic: The Gathering crossover is handled, Hasbro's acquisition of the Harry Potter licensing rights is likely to result in a lot more games tied to the franchise. Honestly, D&D seems like a natural fit, especially if Potter is used to onboarding new players.
The smaller and simpler list of spells as well as the limiting of character customization options would be an easy way to get new players interested in the game system, which seems perfect for an IP aimed at a younger audience. While we may get some interesting products, like a D&D manual, we can also likely expect a parade of boring licensed products for Hasbro's most popular games.
I predict soulless tie-ins like Harry Potter Monopoly and Harry Potter Clue will litter shelves in preparation for the new HBO series, which just so happens to release on Christmas day. While this Hasbro deal has the possibility to be a new era for Harry Potter, it could also easily be an echo of the original hype surrounding the books and original movies, full of lazy and uninteresting licensed products.
Harry Potter TV Show Harry Potter First Film Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone First TV Show Harry Potter Cast Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Tom Felton, Alan Rickman, Matthew Lewis, Bonnie Wright, Evanna Lynch, Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Richard Harris, Ralph Fiennes, Helena Bonham Carter, Alfred Enoch, Harry Melling, Gary Oldman, Robert Pattinson, Warwick Davis, Oliver Phelps, James Phelps, David Bradley, David Thewlis, Katie Leung, Jason Isaacs, Imelda Staunton, David Tennant, Jamie Campbell Bower, Timothy Spall, Robbie Coltrane, Eddie Redmayne, Jude Law, Katherine Waterston, Ezra Miller, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Johnny Depp, Mads Mikkelsen Created by J.K.
Rowling Character Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall, Rubeus Hagrid, Dobby the House Elf, Draco Malfoy, Sirius Black, Ginny Weasley, Voldemort See at Amazon See at Target See at Walmart Expand Collapse
Harry Potter Hasbro Licensing Rights Board Games Toy Products Magic: The Gathering Potter Series JK Rowling Fantastic Beasts X-Men Crossover Goblins
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