It’s been nearly two years since the official unveiling of Hogwarts Legacy, until we heard anything noteworthy again in the impressive gameplay demo. That’s somewhat understandable, as the constant build-up of talk of boycotting the game because of its ties to JK Rowling’s world doesn’t exactly contribute to its level of hype. That’s probably one of the reasons Avalanche Software is getting attention again after March’s State of the Game, which brings me to the headline issue.
Because I think Hogwarts Legacy has only the tiniest chance to actually kick off the holiday. Sure, we’ve seen fourteen minutes of gameplay, but given how much this calms the angry mob, if it’s going to launch in the next five months, I’d expect to see more now. Check out another big release from Warner Bros. this fall: Gotham Knights. Trailers for Batwoman, Nightwing, Red Hood, and Robin have been pouring down on us lately, and the game doesn’t release until October 25th. Obviously, Warner Bros. may have a different marketing strategy for World of Magic, but I doubt they want to split their focus between the two games in a crowded fall. The latter brings me to another reason why I think procrastination is imminent.
Publishers generally prefer to spread out their game releases so that they can both generate more consistent revenue over time, rather than hoping to hit a major spike by releasing two major games, and avoid spreading out their different teams. The late October release of Gotham Knights puts Hogwarts’ legacy in a very difficult situation. Combining Hogwarts Legacy with God of War: Ragnarök in November would be bad for Warner Bros. itself, and neither would PlayStation’s partners, so many believe that Amazon UK will combine The Art of Hogwarts Legacy with the Production: Exploring the Unwritten Wizarding World has understandably changed its release date from December 31 to December 6. is a clear indication that the game is launching on the same day. Perhaps another major title that came out around that time was basically a wise move on the complete opposite of a fascinating wizarding world: The Callisto Protocol. However, I don’t believe it.
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Few games have achieved significant commercial success after launching in December. There are many possible reasons for this: millions of players have already spent all their money on Black Friday deals, most of us in the media have already started following our “Game of the Year” games and discussions, etc. Wait. On top of that, Gotham Knights was only six weeks old at the time, and other major games may have been somewhat overshadowed, I think it’s safe to say that Warner Bros. would have preferred to delay Hogwarts Legacy until this fiscal year. Final quarter (January-March 2023) to end the year on a strong note. So why not announce it sooner? My theory is that Warner Bros. is trying to wait as long as possible before revealing a new date for fear of pushing the legacy of Hogwarts directly into Starfield, Redfall, Forspoken, Resident Evil 4 and other titles, which Will make it nearly impossible to persuade skeptics/Rowling haters.
What do you think, what do you hope to happen?
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