Hogwarts Legacy looks to be just the beginning for Warner Bros. Games as it considers the Harry Potter title to be a long-term franchise.
The video game arrived on 10 February to both anticipation and contention, with many gamers choosing to boycott the title due to its links with controversial Harry Potter author JK Rowling.
In spite of the mixed responses, the game has proved very popular with fans who have loved exploring the open world and seeing what it has to offer.
Set before the events of Harry Potter, Hogwarts Legacy allows users to attend Hogwarts for themselves as a student in the 1800s.
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Players can customise their characters, choose a Hogwarts house and learn how to expand magical abilities by attending classes, as well as exploring beyond the castle to familiar locations from the Harry Potter world.
It's not all potions class and food in the Great Hall though, because the game also sees players 'embark on a dangerous journey to uncover a hidden truth of the wizarding world'.
Following its release, Hogwarts Legacy was named the fourth-best PlayStation 5 game of 2023 as well as the number one most discussed PlayStation 5 game of 2023, according to Metacritic, while audience ratings on Google give it a strong score of 4.6 stars.
The game has resulted in the highest traffic in the Harry Potter community on Fandom in more than seven years, and as of 21 February had racked up 267 million hours of play from wannabe wizards.
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Its success prompted Warner Bros. Games president David Haddad to describe the player engagement as 'spectacular' in an interview with Variety, with the developer considering Hogwarts Legacy a long-term franchise.
“We are very pleased with the initial launch and see a bright future for our other platform launches,” Haddad said.
“Our goal is to continue to utilize our amazing library of Warner Bros. Discovery franchises as we develop our future slate of games."
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JB Perrette, president and CEO of global streaming and games for Warner Bros. Discovery, added that the company is 'fortunate and unique in being able to tell every kind of story'.
"From fiction to nonfiction, movies to TV, and linear to interactive. Our ability to develop and publish world-class games in-house sets us apart from other entertainment companies," Perrette said.
Howarts Legacy is currently available on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC, with PS4 and Xbox One versions set to be released on 4 April.
Topics: Harry Potter, Gaming, JK Rowling
Emily Brown