This is disappointing. I've worked with Troy in the past. I wasn't aware of his politics. I know it says he's the lead designer but from my understanding he was always more of a producer/project manager. I don't know if that makes it any better. I'm not 100% sure what the team structure is over at Avalanche these days, but my understanding was that Alan Tew was the lead designer on the Hogwart's game. His linkedin lists him as a lead designer at WB in SLC. Same as Troy. I don't know if they have multiple lead designers on the project or they have other projects in development other than Hogwart's or what. For some projects you'll have a bunch of lead designers with each over a particular feature of the game and then maybe a creative director over the whole game. I'm not sure if that's how they're arranged there or what.
I know Alan Tew is a really good guy though. Very quiet, thoughtful and humble. A really good lead designer. I always had a lot of respect for him. I'm not sure of his politics, but I'm doubtful he's a right wing/gamer gate guy. He never seemed like the type. He was always very considerate of everyone on the team. So not everyone there as a lead on the team is a douche. There are some good people there.
HOWEVER... there have been a lot of comments about how a studio could employ someone like Troy who seems very publicly out about some obviously controversial (and by our standards ugly) viewpoints. The sad truth about Avalanche is while there are no doubt probably some people working there on the team with more progressive viewpoints, from my understanding a lot of the rot goes straight to the top. From what I've been told about the studio is that there's a lot of cronyism there and it's very top heavy with a lot of guys who are part of the "boy's club." I did hear a particularly ugly story about John Blackburn who's the studio head. I wasn't there so this is hearsay, but I trust where the story came from. Basically, Blackburn had some of the team management out for lunch one day and for some reason he decided it would be a good idea to go around the table and have everyone throw names out of people at the studio they thought were secretly gay and in the closet. What he didn't know was there was someone actually there at the table who wasn't out and was completely embarrassed and mortified by the whole thing. Totally unprofessional. That was back when Disney owned the studio and my understanding was that Disney HR ended up having to get involved.
So I wouldn't describe the studio management there as being very LGBTQ+ friendly. So given all of that I'm not too terribly surprised about this news.
2/21/2021 Update:
The link to Troy's linkedin profile now has him listed as a senior producer so I assume he's become aware of the controversy at this point. So it appears my original assumption was correct. So I also assume Alan Tew is the actual lead designer like I thought.
From what I've heard about Avalanche is that they don't like people having official job titles so this may be a case where Troy was trying to make himself look a little more important to the project than he actually was. As a senior producer, he's probably likely one of many. He likely has some say and input into the project but not any type of ultimate authority or anything. That's not where I understood him to be in the hierarchy.
If Alan Tew is in charge of design, then I would feel a lot more comfortable with that. I'm not trying to change anyone's mind about the game but I want to be fair to Alan who I consider a really good guy. Again, I don't know his politics as I never heard him speak of any but if I had to guess I'd think he at least leans liberal/progressive. At least he's definitely not the type to insert a specific political agenda into a game. I'm not saying that couldn't be pushed in from other directions, but I don't believe it would come from Alan who I believe is the actual lead designer.
Again, I'm not trying to change anyone's mind about the game. I think it's totally valid for everyone who feels the game should be boycotted over JK Rowling's beliefs and involvement. I also have concerns about the studio management as mentioned above. I'm just trying to give people the most accurate information I'm privy to and everyone can make their own judgments.
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So many red flags.
With anti-LGBTQ+ studio like this no wonder Disney got out of video game business.
