The new Harry Potter video game, Hogwarts Legacy, isn’t even officially out yet and it’s already a top seller—despite J.K. Rowling detractors urging players to set down their controllers.

One of the most anticipated single-player RPGs of the year (Zelda’s obviously No. 1) will be available for general sale on Friday, but Potterheads willing to spend extra galleons got early access with the purchase of its Deluxe Edition starting on Tuesday. Even with that limited release, the game has already…

• Broken the record for most concurrent views on Twitch for a single-player game (1.2 million).
• Become the top earner on the video game marketplace Steam, the bestseller on the Epic Store, and taken both the No. 1 and No. 2 bestseller spots for its regular and deluxe versions on Amazon for the PlayStation 5.

If you only became a free elf yesterday…

The calls for a boycott stem from J.K. Rowling’s polarizing views on transgender rights. Ever since she got tweet-happy about them in 2019, some former fans have stopped buying Gryffindor scarves to keep royalty checks out of her bank account.

Despite the game developer Avalanche adding a transgender character to the game at the last minute, Hogwarts Legacy couldn’t avoid the controversy. Influential gamers have been telling fans not to play the game, while others have added custom tags to the game in Steam, including “genocide simulator.” At least one popular gaming chat forum banned discussion of it and some critics refused to review it.

Zoom out: This isn’t the first time a boycott backfired. Goya sales rose 22% two weeks after social media users called on consumers to stop buying it, and Nike sales went up 31% after a controversial campaign led to some people burning their shoes in protest. Oh, and did we mention that Louis CK sold out a show at Madison Square Garden last week?—JW

Bob Iger revealed plans to restructure Disney. Yesterday, the House of Mouse’s recently returned CEO unveiled his plans to save the company $5.5 billion, in part by cutting 7,000 jobs. The company will also be divided into three divisions: Disney Entertainment (for most media operations), ESPN, and a parks and products unit. “It’s time for another transformation,” Iger said, even as the company reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings (largely because its streaming service lost less subscribers than anticipated).

Former Twitter execs get congressional grilling. Lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee questioned three former Twitter executives yesterday over the company’s 2020 decision to block users from sharing a New York Post story about Hunter Biden’s laptop—a move conservatives see as evidence of widespread liberal bias in tech. The executives testified that there was no government involvement in the decision, while lawmakers on both sides of the aisle got testy and several GOP members praised Elon Musk’s release of the “Twitter Files.” Also revealed: The Trump White House once asked Twitter to remove a post by Chrissy Teigen.

Turkey’s president faces criticism over earthquake response. As the death toll exceeded 15,000 from the recent earthquakes in southern Turkey, the nation’s President Tayyip Erdogan acknowledged problems with his government’s initial (slow) response to the disaster. Anger over that delayed response is quickly transforming into questions about Erdogan’s leadership, and he faces reelection in May. Visiting the impacted area, he sought to provide reassurance, saying no one would be left homeless by the quake.

Still don’t believe that generative AI is breaking new ground? When was the last time you saw a human make a $100 billion mistake? Google showed off its answer to ChatGPT-infused Bing this week and things went…worse than expected.

In an advertisement Google released on Monday touting its new AI chatbot, Bard, the system made a factual error, confidently asserting that the James Webb Space Telescope snapped “the very first image of a planet outside our solar system”—although the milestone was actually reached 17 years before the JWST launched.

In response to the mistake, the company highlighted its rigorous testing process for Bard…which is kicking off this week. But between that and a hastily staged event (coming one day after Microsoft impressed with its souped-up Bing), Alphabet shares dropped ~8% yesterday, the most in over three months.

Zoom out: Bard’s confident wrongness isn’t uncommon in generative AI—ChatGPT’s ability to be boldly inaccurate is well documented. The systems work by analyzing patterns in a huge mass of text and making predictions about what words come next (rather than analyzing and synthesizing ideas, like our brains do). This has led one Princeton professor to refer to them as “bullsh*t generators.”—MK

Pete Davidson saying sorry is compelling. Taco Bell’s parent company, Yum Brands, exceeded quarterly earnings expectations yesterday, and the fast-food giant’s CEO David Gibbs credited a big chunk of that success to the guy whose dating history inspired a million Instagram graphics.

It’s thanks to a commercial…that featured Davidson apologizing on behalf of Taco Bell for going a li’l wild on its past breakfast offerings and announcing simpler fare. After the commercial aired in October, breakfast sales at the chain jumped. This bump helped carry Taco Bell past Wall Street's expected 6.5% increase in same-store sales to 11%. That pushed Yum Brands, which also owns Pizza Hut and KFC, to hit $2 billion in revenue in Q4.

Fast-food breakfast is the most important meal of the day: Chains are scrambling to cement themselves as pre-work staples at the same time the oatmeal-at-home crowd is making their way back into the office. Workers who start their day in the drive-thru are one of the best sources of repeat business for fast-food chains. And thanks to low prices, whatever McDonald’s decides to melt over a biscuit is the meal least likely to get cut in consumer budget tightening.—MM

Stat: One thing single women have going for them over single men: They’re more likely to own their own home. Single women owned and occupied 10.76 million homes to single men’s 8.12 million as of 2021, per LendingTree. There are definitely single ladies out there getting theirs, but one factor may also be that women tend to outlive men and keep the home they once shared with a spouse—which might be why retirement hotspot Florida has the biggest disparity.

Quote: “This is nothing new. Christians have recognised since ancient times that God is neither male nor female.”

The Church of England has waded into the debate over gender-neutral pronouns—but they’re not mandating them in clergies’ email signatures, they’re considering the most inclusive way to talk about God. The church is just starting to explore the issue, and change would require a lengthy approval process, but to keep up with the times they are reconsidering terms like “He” and “Our Father.”

Read: These are Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s thoughts on LeBron breaking his scoring record. (Substack)

The Brew recently had the chance to chat with Arnold Schwarzenegger, a fellow newsletter writer over at The Pump Daily whom you may know better as a weightlifting legend, movie star, and ex-governor.

He shared his thoughts on everything from vegan sausages to the war in Ukraine. Check it out.

Meal prep: Tell this website what ingredients you have on hand and it will tell you what to make.

Express yourself: Here’s a map that shows how to say “I love you” anywhere you go.

Stay with a super superhost: An Airbnb co-founder has got a room available in San Francisco.

Go in for the kill: Channel your rage into rooting out these invasive plant species.

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Brew Mini: Neal sweated through 2:56 for today’s Mini. Beat that score here.

Three headlines and a lie

Three of these headlines are real and one is faker than the Valentine’s Day plans we told everyone we have. Can you spot the odd one out?

1. 9-year-old boy from Pennsylvania graduates high school
2. Some AMCs will offer cheaper, standing room tickets
3. Man files $2.3 million lawsuit against woman he says ‘friend-zoned’ him
4. Harry Styles’ stage rotated in the wrong direction during Grammys

Let’s face it—we all want to retire early. That’s why Money with Katie created an early retirement guide to help you get there.

The Brew’s one-week online course, Data Storytelling, will teach you how to create data dashboards that tell the story of your team, your business, or even yourself. It kicks off February 12—reserve your spot now.

Interested in learning how CFOs shift their strategies in response to surprises? Today is your last chance to sign up for our CFO Brew virtual event.