Fans have discovered that the PlayStation exclusive content for Hogwarts Legacy is already in the Steam version.
On both the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, Hogwarts Legacy has an exclusive quest called the “Hogsmeade Haunted Shop.” This quest is given to you by Hogsmeade shopkeeper Madam Mason, and really it is a single dungeon quest. Completing the quest opens up a new shop in Hogsmeade, where you can sell items and equipment for much more than at other shops.
Hogsmeade Haunted Shop is not absolutely exclusive content. Sony has tied down a one year exclusivity contract for this specific quest. As confirmed by The Game Spoof, redditor enaske went snooping into the game files for Hogwarts Legacy on Steam, and confirmed that the quest was actually already in the game.
If you’re willing to risk getting banned or worse, you can find a way to open up Hogsmeade Haunted Shop on PC far ahead of time. It will require you edit your save files using a hex editor. Of course, most players won’t know how to do this at all, but there will definitely be some hackers, and likely, more than a few programmers, who know how to fiddle with the files to open it up. If you did try it, you do open yourself up to legal action as well, as this actually violates the game’s EULA.
But with all these legal prohibitions aside, it’s certainly cheap for this kind of content to exist in the first place. This Hogsmeade Haunted Shop would not even need to exist, if Avalanche Software raised selling prices for items for all, or even at least more shops. The dungeon could also just be part of the game proper on all platforms with different rewards.
Avalanche Software, whose last major game to Hogwarts Legacy was Disney Infinity, more likely already has this content bundled in with all the versions of the game. It would of course be easier to just put the game in to begin with, and block access, instead of making brand new content after the fact.
This DLC clearly exists only to give players a reason to buy Hogwarts Legacy on PlayStation. It may not even be necessary for it to exist, as the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 do both have huge user bases. Most gamers likely already chose to get the PlayStation 5 version.
Maybe the fact that people went checking is an indication that they aren’t that happy with the arrangement. It will be interesting to now see if some hackers actually go ahead and make a hack to open this up.