UK Sales Charts: Hogwarts Legacy Is the Country's Biggest Boxed Release of 2023

@CharlieChooChoo Absolutely!

If you like open-world third person games, it's really good : the story is interesting, the characters are endearing, the world is well made with quite a few surprises, the castle is fantastic and the gameplay is fun without being overbearing.

And I say this without being any kind of Harry Potter fan (I've watched most of the movies once, and that's it). If you're a fan, it's a no brainer.

Glad to see the game being successful. Vocal minority once again turned out to be a minority, colour me surprised. Didn't buy it myself but I'm pleased for everyone who was hyped for it and had their expectations met.

Well deserved indeed.

Boycott is going well, I see.

@CharlieChooChoo If you like the Harry Potter, world yes. Story isn't amazing, but the castle environment is ridiculously detailed and addictive to explore. Also the combat has a surprising amount of depth to it.

@CharlieChooChoo It's about a 7 out of 10, maybe an 8 if you're a Harry Potter fan. It's enjoyable but over-stuffed and a very Ubisoft-led approach to an open world title.

Congrats to Avalanche. This game was a massive departure from their previous work and they absolutely smashed it. I very much enjoyed my playthrough and I'm not a fan of the franchise at all.

@Olmaz Did we play the same game? I only played it for about 5h but the characters were very uninteresting, the voice acting was stiff and so were the animations of the characters during dialogs, the world has the same puzzles copy&pasted everywhere and the gameplay was very simplistic

But the atomosphere is great, I'll give the game that

@CharlieChooChoo
Yes Hogwarts legacy is one of my favourite I’ve played on the PS5 and one of the most immersive I’ve played as well

Loved this game. If Avatar hadn’t come out in December, Hogwarts Legacy would have been my favourite game this year.

I did my first 100% playthrough as a ‘good’ character. But I want to replay the game again this year as a ‘bad’ character.

That’s great news.
Hogwarts legacy is such a fantastic game.
Easily one of my favourites I’ve played on PS5 along with Returnal, FFXVI, Jedi survivor, Midnight suns, Spider-man 2 and ratchet and clank rift apart

Well done Hogwarts in spite of the concerted effort by some small-minded people to scupper it. The devs who obviously cared about the material made a fantastic game and it deserves its success.

And yet it still isn't good enough for it to be in the top 10 games list...

I think FC 24 would've been second if not first again if it would still be called Fifa, lol. Anyways, Hogwarts Legacy was done dirty at the clown show that was the Game Awards, for me it's actually fighting for the second place with FFXVI, undeniably BG3 is also my goty.

I'm really happy for the devs. They understood the assignment.

@Northern_munkey It's a good game, and I'm glad that it proved the cancel mob wrong, but I do not agree that it is a top ten game. I found it to be wafer thin in parts and bloated in others. It is a solid 8/10 for me.

Avalanche did really well with this one although it still ended up using the same ol' checklist gameplay. The source material (books and films) did a lot of the heavy lifting but Avalanche nailed the recreation. All the best to them and Rowling in the future. Undeserved drama always sucks.

@riceNpea third post lucky, eh? 😂

@mariomaster96 We obviously played the same game, but either we have different tastes, or we were in very different mindsets when we played it.

I'm always surprised at the takes other people have about some games. For example, I've always found the gameplay of the Metal Gear Solid games very poor, and their story obnoxious and pretentious, but clearly others don't see it the same way.

So of course I'm surprised at your takes abour HL. I have been playing open world games since they became a thing, and frankly to me it's one of the good ones. But as I said, opinions differ, and it's a good thing! : )

Didn't even get into Push Square's top ten. Disgraceful.

It is kinda pointless without having sales numbers. Why are they missing?

@Loamy 😄 mate, if their skin were any thinner they'd be capable of eating via osmosis.

I loved Hogwarts. 9-10 for me and certainly in my top five of the year. And rightly stated above, Atmosphere at Hogwarts was something else. I also loved picking up conversation between the students. That attention to detail.

1 Super Mario Wonder
2 Spider-Man 2
3 Hogwarts Legacy
4 Final Fantasy 16

I haven't played that many games last year considering the releases but I'll play more this year. ✌️

Thank you, PS, for dropping the 'We realise Hogwarts Legacy doesn't exist in a vacuum' addendum now. While I'm sure it was added with good intentions, it eventually became quite a mar on HL coverage, only highlighting the vitriolic vocal minority others have mentioned here, instead of celebrating the achievements of the HL devs.

I can't help but feel that some level of this game's popularity was a reverse protest against people who do not like JK Rowling. Nothing else makes sense. Harry Potter is not as big as Marvel or Star Wars and games from both of those franchises don't sell nearly as well despite reviewing significantly better.

@RBRTMNZ I think people's praise of the game might be skewed slightly by their desire to get one over on the 'wokerati' but as far as sales numbers go I think you're vastly underestimating the popularity of the IP. I was trying to get to Edinburgh when the Hogwarts express 'left' the Kings Cross - the place was absolutely mobbed with people who'd turned up just to hear an announcement.

@DiscoStuUK Yes HP is for sure very popular. I'm just saying it is definitely nowhere near as popular as Spider-Man, Star Wars, or Mario, all of which had better reviewed games this year. I definitely think the counter protest was much bigger than the protest.

I don't hate on anyone for playing the game, I would have played it myself if it didn't review as extremely mediocre, but it is very sad to me that so many people seem motivated to cancel out the voices of people who just want the world to be a little nicer and more caring. I saw people on this website comment that they voted for HP for game of the year even though they thought it was mid, because they wanted to stick it to people who protested it.

@RBRTMNZ I dunno man, I think HP might be up there with Spider-Man etc, the cultural impact of it is unprecedented even compared to those other huge properties... but if we have to agree to disagree on that point, I can at least say I wholeheartedly agree with everything else you've said.

@get2sammyb Top man. Thoroughly charming game.

@RBRTMNZ Metacritic score is 84, far from “mediocre,” lol. It’s a great game btw!

@Ralizah It’s easy to be snide from the States but she’s actively made people’s lives worse here. Like used her money and influence to campaign against legislation and created an atmosphere of hatred that’s fully mainstream now. A boycott wasn’t about the mainstream, it was about solidarity from those who claim to be supportive of LGBTQ+ rights or had done similar for other causes.

@YourNameHere I don’t base my assessment of games on score. I read and watch reviews. Even good reviews described the combat, story, and open world activities as being mid and said the map and described world building as the redeeming features. I was planning to play it but that sounds like a mediocre game to me.

@nessisonett As if an atmosphere of anti-trans hate ISN'T a gigantic problem in the States?

I'm being snide because this accomplished literally nothing good, and it should have been obvious that this would be the outcome. Your (royal you, obviously) purity test made trans people look hysterical and weak as a social bloc, and made the inevitable success of this game into a cultural success for the right.

JK Rowling wasn't even associated with the game beyond them using her IP as the base, afaik!

If you want trans and gay rights to be taken seriously, you want to expand the tent, so to speak, to more people who only vaguely care about those issues, not do stuff like this to alienate everyone but those willing to show "solidarity."

That approach makes all of us more of a target when opportunistic fascists take advantage of it. Both for legislation making our lives harder to lead and people looking to hurt us. And being dragged behind the back of a pickup truck is NOT on my bucket list.

@Ralizah Rowling doesn’t have the same influence in the States. Buying this game directly funds her campaign over here to eradicate trans people. That’s just a fact, royalties go into her pocket. If anybody doesn’t understand that they might as well be donating to a hate group, because that’s where the money will go, then it’s absolutely important to let people know. She’s caused genuine constitutional crises over here. The influence has seeped into ruling government so quickly that only a few years ago we had a prime minster committed to trans rights and now every aspect of government is committed to stamping it out. Frankly I don’t care much about optics or whether things look good, there is no middle ground on this issue. Especially not in the UK, you fall one way or the other.

I watched a streamer play Hogwarts Legacy and it looks like a pretty neat time, not sure if I plan on ever buying it though.

@nessisonett A few things.

1) The woman has had more money than God forever. She's the biggest author of all time. Whatever paltry royalties she gains from the sales of this game aren't going to be funding anything that couldn't already be funded 1000x over without causing her even a moment of discomfort or inconvenience.

2) Buying a video game associated with someone you don't like is not the equivalent of funding a hate group lol. This sort of rhetoric is unserious, and when you associate it with trans rights, it makes trans rights look unserious as well.

3) You know what's preferable? NOT deliberately making an enemy of the most powerful woman in your country by attacking her relentlessly for a few questionable comments she made and turning her into a symbol for every right-wing activist in the country. Which started in 2019, as I recall. Which, not coincidentally, lines up well with your observation that support for trans rights have taken a dip over there recently. It's like y'all shot one of your own feet, screamed about the pain, and are now getting frustrated with people telling you to not shoot the other foot as well.

@Ralizah I agree with all your points.

Personally, even though I've voted left my entire life, I've seen many people who strongly disagree with racists and homophobes turn to far right groups, because they're sick and tired of being attacked over anything and everything. When you choose to lambast someone for a potentially misguided opinion they express instead of having a conversation with them, not only do you push them towards the other side, but you make your side look like the bad one. And people who are on the fence think the worst of you.

So, it's doing far more harm than good.

On topic: I got the game a few days ago and look forward to playing it with my partner who's a huge Harry Potter fan. I gave it a try a few months ago and was really impressed.

@DiscoStuUK Yes I think we are generally in agreement. I’ll just say don’t underestimate how popular Spiderman is. It’s the most popular comic character, the third highest grossing film IP (above HP), the best selling PS4 that wasn’t included as a pack in, and the fastest selling PS5 game.

@RBRTMNZ Another thing to keep in mind is that there haven't been any proper Harry Potter games in ages, whereas we've had tons of Spider-man games. Also, Spider-man games weren't selling well at all before Insomniac took over (and let's not forget that superhero movies are experiencing fatigue at the moment, each of them either underperforming or losing a ton of money).

If you look at all the Spider-man and Harry Potter films, you realize that it's only thanks to Tom Holland that they got super popular (he's uber popular on Instagram and Tiktok). The previous ones didn't perform that well. Conversely, Harry Potter films are beloved like LotR movies. I know (and read about) a whole lot of people who have HP/ LotR marathons, whereas that's not the case with Spidey films, to my knowledge anyway.

Mario kart 8 best selling Nintendo game of all time and its still not stopping

@naruball I’m far left and I think you are 100% correct about the left driving people away. You can agree with some people on the left on 99% of the issues and instead of treating you as an ally they will crucify you for the 1% you disagree on.

@naruball Same reason a lot of men, and especially younger guys, are falling in with Andrew Tate/manosphere types and being exposed to normalized misogyny and hard-right rhetoric in the process.

The left could still obviously oppose legislation that targets social minorities, but avoid the culture war stuff, and instead shift focus to having a dialogue with ordinary people, and cultural fascists would be left with very little room to expand their hold on the culture.

@naruball I do think you’re right that Hogwarts being the first big HP game in a while added to the hype and contributed to sales but I don’t think that fully explains it being the most popular single player game in years.

I’m a bit incredulous about super hero fatigue theory.Partially because Spider-Man 2 sold so well and so fast but also I think the recent poor box office performance for comic movies has more to do with the movies being bad and often featuring C/D tier heroes. The recent Spider-Man movies were incredibly popular and no not just because of Tom Holland, his other movies don’t do nearly as well, he is popular online but not a ticket seller. Plus the recent HP movies did so bad that they cancelled the end of the series so they’re doing even worse.

@Ralizah I didn't get the game for this reason. But yes buying stuff from people who are quite bad is funding them. It's harder to skip a good game but it feel good do so for the right reasons.

As a fan of James Stephanie Sterling there was quite a nice video about i which made me not get the game. He said it quite well don't scream at the sidelines if you are not going to back it up in the end.

But it's quite funny that the biggest boxed release has a nothing more then a demo on the disc. 🤣

@Flaming_Kaiser

1) I think people making the personal moral decision to not buy a game for... whatever reason is perfectly fine. Just like when the weebs get riled up about an anime boob game getting censored and boycott it. Voting with your wallet is always a valid choice. I didn't buy the game, either.

2) That said, you'd not be giving your money to bad people. You're giving your money to people who made a game based off an IP created by a person you think is bad. It'd be like saying people who bought Minecraft were supporting hate because Notch was getting a slice of the pie as well.

I guess you're indirectly supporting Rowling if you buy it, but you're also indirectly supporting a lot of far more terrible people any time you buy anything from a major corporation.

You're free to not buy the game and feel good about it, of course, as it's your money.

3) Isn't Sterling using they/them pronouns now?

4) I find the notion that buying an entertainment product makes someone not a 'trans ally' to be quite a toxic attitude, and it does an amazing job of making people less sympathetic to ACTUAL problems affecting trans people. Like homelessness and lack of social support systems. Discrimination in employment. A sky-high suicide rate. etc.

People are gonna buy a big-budget Harry Potter game. If trans activists and progressives choose to paint those who do as non-allies, then they're effectively doing the work of bigots for them by pushing people away from supporting trans causes. It's absurd.

Avalanche did an excellent job of capturing the essence of the Harry Potter world! I start a quest and end up getting sidetracked by the environment. I just got access to Highwing and I’m almost level 30!

@Ralizah I don't know about point 3 i like the videos and it has good points. But I agree with his points about supporting these kinds of media.

A digital boob or a second of video removed is where I had too rewind the video several times to find out what he was talking about is not my biggest issue. Adult nudity isn't something that should be censored a boob or butt isn't a big issue to me.

And to be fair I'm to old to play games where I feel awkward when someone come in when I'm playing. Is it a friend or family or a younger person where I need to turn of the TV because it's not suited for him.

@RBRTMNZ You're right I had absolutely no idea Spider-Man was that popular, that's nuts!

@Ralizah I agree on a lot of your points, but to say that buying this game isn't funding JK is just not correct. The people who made it, the coders on the ground, were paid for their time regardless of how well it sold, so buying the game to support them doesn't wash. If the game sells well, the higher ups are the ones who reap the rewards and the main outcome is that more HP games get made, which means more money to JK. There is no ethical consumption under capitalism, but if Tim Cook personally and publicly started funding hate groups, I would think twice about buying another iPhone. I'll never buy a Tesla because Elon is a dangerous piece of ***** (as if I'd ever be able to afford a Tesla).

I also think you're trivialising the effect that JK has had on trans perception, in the UK especially. It is not just a few questionable comments on Twitter, it is a far reaching and insidious campaign to demonise trans people and minimise their right to exist, which she along with people like Glinner are at the very forefront of. This is not a right vs left issue, it's a human rights issue.

But nobody's opinion is going to get changed on this issue in the comments section of a Push Square article. I didn't buy this game because I was the edgy kid who hated HP for the sole reason that everyone else loved it so I never developed an affection for the series. The movies are fine, they make me feel Christmassy. I don't think I would have bought this game even if I had been a huge fan because of the reasons we are all apparently sick of reading about (despite the fact that the first comment on any Hogwarts Legacy article concerning the issue is always from someone mocking the call from the trans community to boycott it).

@Ralizah JK Rowling has specifically said that she equates the continued success of the HP franchise as validation of her hateful statements and activism.

Even more crazy, Hogwarts Legacy sold best on PS5 followed by PS4, Switch, Xbox Series S|X, and Xbox One. What is particularly interesting about that is the UK is Xbox's second strongest market and the game still sold better on the Switch despite releasing NINE MONTHS LATER.