The Hogwarts Legacy Twitter account just confirmed that the last-gen and the Switch versions of the game will be delayed by a couple of months. The game is scheduled to come out on last-gen consoles (PS4, Xbox One) on April 4, 2023, and the Switch version is slated to come out on July 25, 2023.
The current-gen version of the game (PS5, Xbox Series X/S) is still scheduled to come out on February 10, 2023, with the 72-hour early access beginning on February 7, 2023. While not the best news for Harry Potter fans looking forward to the game, it is also probably for the best that the studio isn’t compromising on either version of the game.
The game has been delayed once already from its original release window towards the end of 2022 to early 2023. Fans remain cautiously optimistic about Hogwarts Legacy, and judging from the gameplay reveal, the game packs a couple of really cool ideas.
Also Read: Harry Potter Games Ranked: 8 Top Games of Harry Potter Ranked From Worst to Best
Hogwarts Legacy PS4/Xbox One Version Delayed by 2 Months
The game is a cross-generation release, which almost always seems to raise some questions within the game community. The overall feeling is that the game is being held back by the last generation of consoles that have significantly less powerful hardware. Games like God of War Ragnarok have done a lot to dispel that notion, but there still seems to be a lot of reservation regarding them.
The game is being developed under the Portkey Games banner, a new label for games under WB Games. Avalanche Software is taking the lead on the development of the game. The studio has been around since the late 90s and has consistently worked on several genres of games, including Disney tie-ins like Tou Story 3, Disney Infinity 3.0, and more.
It will be interesting to see what sorts of gameplay innovations the team is able to come up with, given the potential of the Wizarding World IP. The game looks pretty good so far, but it is still quite a ways away from the launch date. It’s probably in everyone’s best interest that the studio are willing to take more time with the last-gen versions of the game and the Switch version to make sure they’re not half-baked.
Hogwarts Legacy is one of 2023’s most highly-anticipated games but it is one that is already mired in controversy. Comments made by author JK Rowling over the years in the media and on Twitter seem to have turned a lot of fans away from the Harry Potter IP. Consequently, this has resulted in a significant portion of the gaming community almost boycotting Hogwarts Legacy.
It will be interesting to see how the game performs financially when it does come out in 2023. Seeing as there is a lot of push-back from fans already, looks like the game already has a pretty steep hill to climb.
