Despite the Harry Potter franchise being incredibly dated at this point, it still has a considerable fanbase. As a result, more and more content within the IP continues to be released, with Hogwarts Legacy being one of the latest endeavors of Warner Bros. Not only have there been books, games, and movies, they are now branching out into a TV show, which is due to debut on HBO in 2026. However, it turns out that Warner Bros. has made Hogwarts Legacy a ‘huge priority.’ It’s no surprise that Hogwarts Legacy ended up being the top-selling game of 2023 and has sold over 30 million units as of last month. With the success of Hogwarts Legacy, they’ve also released Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions and a remaster of the Lego Harry Potter games.
Warner Bros. Discovery’s Chief Financial Officer has said that a direct sequel to Hogwarts Legacy is a goal for the development team moving forward. “Obviously, a successor to Hogwarts Legacy is one of the biggest priorities in a couple of years down the road,” says WBD CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels in an interview at the Bank of America’s 2024 Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference. Although Hogwarts Legacy was quite successful, that doesn’t mean that every game recently released by Warner Bros. has been. The most recent big release for the studio was Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, and that did not sell very well at all. It’s been considered a “miss” by the company, and it seems that they are pivoting heavily into more Harry Potter content.
While they have released Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions, it’s worth noting that this game is in no way a sequel to Hogwarts Legacy, and is treated as it’s own standalone title. However, it’s been confirmed by David Haddad, the President of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, that they are looking for ways to produce content within the Wizarding World.
“We have known for some time that fans are looking for more things in this world, and so we’re spending a lot of time thinking about that. Our insights tell us that there are not huge distinctions between a younger version of a fan and an older version of a fan. They’re just deep Harry Potter fans, and we try to build authentic experiences to delight them.”
Despite the fact that this IP belongs to J.K. Rowling, it’s been confirmed that she is not involved with the management of the franchise but is instead receiving updates via her literary agent. It’s been stated that the game development team behind Hogwarts Legacy has been working on some of the big-picture storytelling elements in the sequel, with the storylines set to play out in the Harry Potter HBO TV series. Whether this means they are directly linked and are considered a canon event seems a little bit up in the air right now.
Harry Potter doesn’t seem to be dying any time soon, with experiences being opened in the Universal Theme Park, new games consistently being in development or released, and many new ways to create content. Hogwarts Legacy is set to get a remastered version in the future, adding extra content for players to explore.
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