Variety has revealed that Warner Bros has confirmed work on a new Hogwarts Legacy game.
To quote Variety:
“But Warner Bros. was encouraged last year by the strong response from Potter fans to the new video game “Hogwarts Legacy,” which wound up the top-selling game of 2023 and has crossed 30 million units sold as of last month.
…And Warner Bros. Games is at work on a video game sequel to “Hogwarts Legacy,” which is a “very big priority” for Warner Bros. Discovery’s C-suite.”
Variety also reported that the Hogwarts Legacy sequel will tie into the upcoming Harry Potter HBO TV series coming this 2026. They talked to Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment president David Haddad, who shared more insight. Again, to quote Variety:
“Haddad says the games team has been coordinating some of the big-picture storytelling elements in the “Hogwarts Legacy” sequel with the storylines that will play out in the “Harry Potter” HBO series coming from Warner Bros. Television.
He notes that the success of “Hogwarts Legacy” helped stoke confidence that the time was right to make a major Potter push: “The rest of the company was very curious about what we helped to unlock with ‘Hogwarts Legacy’ last year.””
This news comes in context of Warner Bros bigger plans to continue expanding the Harry Potter franchise. But while the general public will get more exposure to the show and the upcoming theme park experience in Epic Universe, it seems that Hogwarts Legacy’s profile has been raised considerably high.
In fact, we’re hard pressed to think of other franchises where the video game takes this important a role in the media mix. The closest we can think of is 2009’s Ghostbusters: The Video Game, which had the close involvement of the original cast and creators.
Lead actor and co-writer Dan Aykroyd himself described it as essentially the third movie. Of course, that has all since gone out the window with the release of the more recent movies Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.
Harry Potter fans, even those who aren’t particularly gamers, will now be motivated to play or experience this new Hogwarts Legacy game in some way. Likely, those who won’t be able to play for one reason or another will be watching streams on Twitch or YouTube.
And with the Hogwarts Legacy sequel now taking a central role in the canon of the Harry Potter reboot, there will be more money poured into the project, and also higher expectations and more hands getting involved.
Let’s be clear here: Warner Bros. is saying they intend to make Hogwarts Legacy the next big AAA video game franchise, perhaps bigger than what they have now with Arkham Batman. That’s news you may welcome or dread, but you should all be on notice that this is where we are at now.
