Hogwarts Legacy is the UK’s biggest Harry Potter game launch
by Danny Craig
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Warner Bros. Games
Despite calls to boycott the title, Hogwarts Legacy has gotten off to a strong start in terms of physical first-week sales in the UK.
The details:
- According to gamesindustry.biz, in its first three days of release, Hogwarts Legacy has achieved physical sales figures 64% higher than the franchise’s previous best-selling game launch week, 2001’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. To add to the impressive numbers, Philosopher's Stone's biggest week in terms of sales was actually its second week of release due to the hype surrounding the film of the same name, which Hogwarts Legacy has already surpassed by 2%.
- Harry Potter is now the 26th biggest gaming franchise in the UK, placing it above The Legend of Zelda. The game also achieved first-week sales that were 80% higher than those of last year’s Elden Ring, which was also a highly anticipated release.
- Due to its massive sales, it has risen to the top of the GfK UK Boxed Top Ten list, pushing God of War: Ragnarok and FIFA 23 to second and third place, respectively. The game is currently available on Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC, with Switch, PS4, and Xbox One versions coming later this year. The game is expected to remain on the best-seller list as it expands to more platforms.
- The release of Hogwarts Legacy was met with controversy due to JK Rowling's anti-trans views, with many choosing to boycott the game, criticizing others who purchased the title, and even going so far as to create a website to track who had streamed the game to Twitch.
Other news from Warner Bros. Games:
- Last month, a screenshot of the menu from Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League was leaked onto 4chan and revealed the game would feature a battle pass system. A trusted source confirmed the leak to be real but went on to say that the pass would be nothing more than cosmetic items that did not affect gameplay directly.
- Monolith Productions is working on a Wonder Woman game. There’s not too much information on the project as of yet, but we do know that it will be an open-world adventure game that will use the Nemesis System found in Monolith’s previous Middle-Earth series.