Warner Bros. Games president David Haddad has spoken out about the success of Hogwarts Legacy, and what he hopes to be the future of that franchise, as well as other Warner Bros. games in the future.
As we had covered, Hogwarts Legacy’s launch had outpaced that of last year’s big game release, Elden Ring. In fact, it seemed to be tracking closer to the launch numbers of Red Dead Redemption 2.
However, that interest seemed to have been immediately satiated on that launch week. We also covered that Atomic Heart had immediately took Hogwarts Legacy out of the Steam top seller charts after its own launch. It’s possible that interest in the game came primarily from Harry Potter fans, but there is not as much interest outside of that fandom.
As covered by Variety, Haddad could actually cite engagement numbers that Hogwarts Legacy had with its players, as it turns out that even the most miniscule game interactions were being tracked by Warner Bros. Games. As Haddad put it:
“The player engagement is spectacular. 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.”
Variety noted that player engagement was higher for Hogwarts Legacy than the recent Fantastic Beasts movie. This may be partly explained by the bad reputation Fantastic Beasts had earned all on its own, but can also be a reflection for high hopes for a new Harry Potter video game.
Haddad then said this about the upcoming ports of Hogwarts Legacy to Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch:
“We are very pleased with the initial launch and see a bright future for our other platform launches.”
Haddad then said this, which could be interpreted as a hint for future Hogwarts Legacy games, but also games for their other franchises:
“Our goal is to continue to utilize our amazing library of Warner Bros. Discovery franchises as we develop our future slate of games.”
Warner Bros Games stands as one of the few remaining movie and show IP holders who have opted to make their own games instead of outsourcing them, as Disney has done. While Disney may still feel justified about ending their venture as a video game developer and publisher, WB shows that they can actually still see a lot of success in the business.
Warner Bros. Games catalog doesn’t just include other shows and movies that can be made into video games, like Lego and Batman Arkham, but also video game IPs they can make into shows and movies, like Mortal Kombat. For a company that used to own Atari, it’s quite an evolution to have come back in the business and stay successful.
