Warner ‘very pleased’ with Hogwarts Legacy launch and ‘spectacular’ player engagement

1 year ago 139

Warner Bros. Games has said it’s “very pleased” with Hogwarts Legacy’s launch and claimed that player engagement has been “spectacular”.

Hogwarts Legacy was released for PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC on February 10 and got off to a very strong start commercially.

It enjoyed the biggest European launch outside of the FIFA and Call of Duty series since October 2018’s Red Dead Redemption 2.

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“We are very pleased with the initial launch and see a bright future for our other platform launches,” Warner Bros. Games president David Haddad told Variety on February 16.

Hogwarts Legacy will be released for PS4 and Xbox One on April 4, and for Nintendo Switch on July 25.

While Haddad didn’t provide sales figures for the game, first week digital sales in Europe were up 56% compared to last year’s fantasy blockbuster Elden Ring, which has gone on to sell 20 million copies since its release in February 2022.

“The player engagement is spectacular,” Haddad added. “So far, we have tracked over 152 million hours played, 173 million magical plants grown, 115 million potions brewed and 556 million Dark Wizards defeated.”

In updated figures provided after Haddad was interviewed, Warner said that as of October 21, Hogwarts Legacy had seen 267 million hours played, 393 million magical plants grown, 242 million potions brewed and 1.25 billion Dark Wizards defeated.

Developer Avalanche Software recently claimed it currently has no plans to release Hogwarts Legacy DLC expansions.

Hogwarts Legacy was released amid significant controversy surrounding book author JK Rowling’s publicly-stated views on transgender rights.

The game is the subject of a boycott due to public comments from Rowling perceived by many to be transphobic (for a full breakdown of the situation, we recommend this article by Glamour).