Hogwarts Legacy Sold 15 Million Copies and Made Over $1 Billion

[GFreeman]

Hogwarts Legacy has become one of the most popular games ever released and has sold over 15 million copies, making over $1 billion in sales, which earned it a place in the company's earnings call. The numbers will keep growing as the game is launching on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One today, and the Nintendo Switch version is coming in July.

The result does not come as a big surprise considering it sold over 12 million copies and made $850 million in the first two weeks from the launch. The newest result makes it one of the best selling games of 2023, at least so far. The result also makes Hogwarts Legacy the fifth $1 billion-plus gaming franchise from WB Games, joining Mortal Kombat, Game of Thrones, Lego games, and DC.



During the earnings call, David Zaslav, Warner Bros Discovery CEO said that "Hogwarts Legacy has amassed more than $1 billion in retail sales and over 15 million units sold worldwide to date, and today the team is launching the game on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One platforms. This is our fifth $1 billion-plus gaming franchise alongside Mortal Kombat, Game of Thrones, our Lego games and DC, and there's lots more games coming, including Hogwarts Legacy on Switch later this year."

During the same call, JB Perrette, CEO of global streaming and games at Warner Bros. Discovery added that they expect "a much bigger install base and a fan base" with Nintendo Switch version launch in July, especially considering that Harry Potter "skews very strongly in terms of popularity."

Yesterday, Hogwarts Legacy got a pretty big patch, improving visual, performance, gameplay, and general stability, as well as bringing the new Arachnophobia Mode.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[maxfly]

Yowzaa! Hogwarts be hoggin up dem profits. Badum tish. Thank you thank you
Hehe

 

[oxrufiioxo]

Kinda surprising considering all the hate online for the game.

 

[64K]

Kinda surprising considering all the hate online for the game.

I learned long ago that what gamers say and what they actually do can at times be two entirely different things.

 

[Pepamami]

Kinda surprising considering all the hate online for the game.

Streisand Effect, people who hate this game does not play videogames, and created "hype" instead.

 

[freeagent]

Is this like a Harry Potter game?

Never read any of those books.. not really interested either..

 

[cvaldes]

Kinda surprising considering all the hate online for the game.

A fundamental shortcoming of the Internet in 2023 is that minority voices are often disproportionally loud. This isn't specific to video gaming, technology, politics, etc., it's pervasive everywhere about pretty much everything. This is happening with increasing regularity with each passing year.

So a handful of people had objections to the game and made their voices heard. Duly noted. Yet financials show the game has been a monumental success, particularly in the USA and UK.

One might assume that some of the people enthusiastic about the game were too busy playing to spend much time addressing the detractors. The former let their dollars do the talking.

And there will be more to come: a DLC, more gaming titles (including a proposed standalone Quidditch game), more films and television shows, and certainly more merchandise.

The Internet wasn't always like this. Smartphones gave everyone a voice but they didn't make the Internet a better place. They basically generated more noise. The Internet's signal-to-noise ratio has dropped precipitously since 2010.

And apparently all the media coverage of the game's haters didn't change the old saying "The only bad publicity is your obituary."

The Harry Potter universe is thriving quite well in 2023.

 

[Solaris17]

Deserved! Its a pretty awesome game!

 

[64K]

Is this like a Harry Potter game?

Never read any of those books.. not really interested either..

I'm not a fan of Harry Potter and don't follow it at all but from what I've seen gamers saying is that it's tied into the Wizarding World which included Harry Potter books.

 

[cvaldes]

I'm not a fan of Harry Potter and don't follow it at all but from what I've seen gamers saying is that it's tied into the Wizarding World which included Harry Potter books.

The Hogwarts Legacy game title precedes the Harry Potter series storyline by about a hundred years, late 19th century in a fictitious area of Scotland.

So sort of a prequel one might say. There isn't any direct (bloodline) connection between the game's protagonist and Harry Potter so the writers had a lot of freedom regarding the plot. Thus there were fewer continuity challenges concerning the lore of the Potter universe.

 

[Denver]

Is this like a Harry Potter game?

Never read any of those books.. not really interested either..

Yeah, it's harry potter without harry potter. XD

 

[Nostras]

Kinda surprising considering all the hate online for the game.

Quite sure the vast majority of people considering buying this game couldn't care less about all the controversies it (or JK really) associated with it.
Or just HP universe in general.
Good example of (very) loud (and very small) minority.

 

[sepheronx]

I learned long ago that what gamers say and what they actually do can at times be two entirely different things.

Those weren't gamers who were bitching and moaning about it. Catering to people who aren't your audience isn't a winning strategy

 

[64K]

Catering to people who aren't your audience isn't a winning strategy

While I would like to agree with you, I can't. Look at all of the Publishers/Developers pushing Diversity and Inclusiveness to an exaggerated extent in games for an example. Those games are still selling very well to mainstream gamers.

 

[sepheronx]

While I would like to agree with you, I can't. Look at all of the Publishers/Developers pushing Diversity and Inclusiveness to an exaggerated extent in games for an example. Those games are still selling very well to mainstream gamers.

Well, I think a lot of that has to do with the lack of diversity of games. In other words, when you got 7 games to choose from for an entire console, well, options are limited.

 

[64K]

Well, I think a lot of that has to do with the lack of diversity of games. In other words, when you got 7 games to choose from for an entire console, well, options are limited.

That's not the type of Diversity I was referring to but this is probably off topic so I'm not going to say anymore about it here.

 

[sepheronx]

That's not the type of Diversity I was referring to but this is probably off topic so I'm not going to say anymore about it here.

I know, my wording may be off but yeah, you know what I mean old man. I know you do.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

A fundamental shortcoming of the Internet in 2023 is that minority voices are often disproportionally loud. This isn't specific to video gaming, technology, politics, etc., it's pervasive everywhere about pretty much everything. This is happening with increasing regularity with each passing year.

This is what "asking the internet" sometimes gets you:

Boaty McBoatface - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Observers of contemporary culture coined the term "McBoatfacing," defined as "making the critical mistake of letting the internet decide things." In one such observation, Jennifer Finney Boylan of The New York Times wrote that to be "McBoatfaced" was to allow people to "deliberately make their choices not in order to foster the greatest societal good, but, instead, to mess with you".[19] The results of the poll inspired numerous similar spoofs in other naming polls.

 

[ChettManly]

I hope other companies learn from this and stop pandering to online activists. Make the game you want to make the haters be damned!

 

[Nephilim666]

Definitely runs better now on OXP2

I hope other companies learn from this and stop pandering to online activists. Make the game you your corporate investors want to make the haters be damned!

There, I fixed it for you

 

[Kohl Baas]

One might assume that some of the people enthusiastic about the game were too busy playing to spend much time addressing the detractors. The former let their dollars do the talking.

Not to mention gamers whom actually agree with JKR. 'cause in those 15 million, there must be at least a few of those too.

Moral of the story: You can't bring down Goliath if he has a helmet.

 

[thelawnet]

Kinda surprising considering all the hate online for the game.

Those people inhabit their own world of delusion. The game itself was in no way offensive, they were just mad that a billionaire whom they disagree with, was getting even more money, when she already has more than she can possibly spend.

Anyway next thing is world's biggest Harry Potter land, opening this year in Japan.

Since she didn't really say anything that normal people would disagree with (she didn't go full Kanye, for example), there's not really a stigma about consuming product related to her. And since it's a strong IP that a lot of money's been invested in, those people can just stay mad.

 

[GamerGuy]

Good example of (very) loud (and very small) minority.

Only exemplifies the old adage, "Empty barrels make the most noise", and there's nothing emptier than these peeps/barrels.

 

[cfenton]

I'm surprised to see Game of Thrones on the list of WB games series that made over $1 billion. I can only think of a few games and none of them were good.

 

[mechtech]

"sold over 15 million copies, making over $1 billion in sales" ....gross......

in other news

Terraria ................. sold over 44 million copies by 2022, making it one of the top ten best-selling video games.