‘Hogwarts Legacy’ Is Already The #1 Selling Game On Steam And PS5, #2 On Xbox
We are just under four weeks away from the release of Hogwarts Legacy on February 10, but it’s already shaping up to be one of the best-selling games of the year. Pre-sales for Hogwarts Legacy have been absolutely unbelievable, and it shows no sign of slowing down as we get closer to launch.
Hogwarts Legacy has retained its top spot as the best-selling game on Steam. CSGO is higher in revenue, but it’s a free-to-play title with microtransactions. Legacy is outselling the next-closest actual, paid game, Modern Warfare 2, by a good margin, according to the chart.
Hogwarts Legacy is listed on Amazon as the top selling game on PS5 right now, ahead of the upcoming Dead Space remake, out in 11 days, and Sonic Frontiers.
Hogwarts Legacy is listed on Amazon as the #2 seller on Xbox Series X/S, behind only Modern Warfare 2.
One exception to Hogwarts Legacy’s dominance is on Switch, where it’s listed as just the 33rd best-selling game on Switch on Amazon, behind dozens of other titles. The reason being for that is that the Switch version of the game won’t be released until July 25, as the port there needs more time, apparently.
Unlike other upcoming big 2023 releases, Starfield, Spider-Man 2, Final Fantasy XVI and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Hogwarts Legacy is releasing on all platforms as a third party title. Other big third party games this year are things like Diablo 4 and Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, but it seems possible Hogwarts Legacy could beat them all out. As ever, I will mention that this is all happening in the wake of an extremely heated culture war in which a line in the sand has been drawn by many online, who claim that purchasing Hogwarts Legacy puts money in JK Rowling’s pocket, who has repeatedly espoused anti-trans views in the last few years. Conversely, there are “spite buyers” who claim the controversy will only help the game sell more copies. While I don’t think that’s happening, what’s clear is that Hogwarts Legacy is going to be a huge-seller no matter what controversies may be attached to it. The vast majority of the potential playerbase is either unaware or content to ignore these issues, and the mainstream view is “here’s the sprawling, open-world Harry Potter game we’ve been waiting two decades for.” That’s going to be enough to easily move 20 million copies.
The question is not how big a sales hit Hogwarts Legacy will be, but whether it can possibly live up to the sky-high hopes fans have for the game. And if it does, the question becomes just how high sales can go, even in a hyper-competitive year full of huge releases. We’ll know more as we get closer to release.
Paul Tassi ( January 16, 2023)
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