The Trans Witches Are Witches Bundle launches today on itch
On Friday, KRITIQAL — an independent queer gaming outlet and community space — launched the Trans Witches Are Witches Bundle on itch.io. The bundle includes 69 (nice) video and tabletop games from LGBTQ+ creators about magic/witches/wizardry. It’s going for $60, the former standard price for a AAA video game, with the goal of giving that money to transgender and gender non-conforming creators, instead of transphobic children’s authors.
There are 56 creators behind the 69 works available in the Trans Witches Are Witches Bundle. The profits from its sales will be split as evenly between these creators as possible given the current limitations of itch.io’s payout system.
“Earnings are split evenly between all creators,” the bundle’s organizer, KRITIQAL’s Nathalie told Gayming. “Due to an unfortunate limitation of itch.io, the exact percentages are not 100% equal, but I did my best to try and balance them between the two versions of the bundle. Hopefully itch will implement fractional percentage splits before the next AAA transphobia simulator drops.”
The bundle’s pricing was meant to rival said AAA transphobia simulator’s retail value, but the industry switch to $70 for next-gen titles is still something many are getting used to.
“Maybe folks will use the difference to gift the apprentice version (a $10 sister bundle) to a friend,” Nathalie said.
Games that were eligible to be part of this bundle simply had to be about magic in some capacity and be made by LGBTQ+ people or with characters who are part of that community. Together, they are hoping to provide plenty of alternatives to Hogwarts Legacy while also putting money directly into queer creators’ pockets.
“Every time an openly harmful piece of pop culture releases it feels like there are few options others than to brace for impact and hope it’s quickly forgotten,” Nathalie told Gayming. “I can’t stop Hogwarts Legacy releasing anymore than I can stop J.K. Rowling using the profits to fund transphobic hate groups, but what I can do is try to funnel some of the anger and guilt around the game back into the pockets of the people being harmed by Harry Potter’s ongoing profitability. Running a bundle is not a radical act, it will not counteract the violence J.K. Rowling has and continues to inflict on trans people, but I hope that having a moment of (financially compensated) trans visibility can serve as a small reprieve from the onslaught of demoralizing headlines and posts surrounding HL’s launch (to say nothing of the harassment trans people are already experiencing for even mentioning the game).”
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