Hogwarts Legacy has proven to be something of a golden goose for Warner Bros. Games, selling millions of copies and setting impressive viewership records despite the numerous controversies surrounding it. The company seems to be taking note of the game’s success, hinting in interviews at the places it may take the franchise in the future.
In an interview with Variety earlier this month, WB Games president David Haddad expressed his satisfaction with the game’s metrics, boasting of the hours played, Dark Wizards defeated, and more. According to the article, the company sees the title as a “long-term franchise,” and Haddad said that he saw “a bright future for our other platform launches.” One particular line of Haddad’s appeared to hint at a future Hogwarts Legacy title: “Our goal is to continue to utilize our amazing library of Warner Bros. Discovery franchises as we develop our future slate of games.”
This could all very well suggest sequel or franchise plans for Hogwarts Legacy in the future, though it should be noted that nothing has been confirmed at present. The lack of DLC plans for Hogwarts Legacy would perhaps suggest that the game’s success took even the developers a little by surprise, considering the tension around the game’s release and the planned boycott by many prospective players.
The controversy swirling around Hogwarts Legacy centers squarely on author and IP creator JK Rowling, in particular her penchant for transphobic rhetoric and talking points and the portrayal of goblins in her work that could easily be construed as anti-semitic. The planned boycott of the game was largely a question of whether consumers were comfortable adding to the already eye-watering wealth of a person with such views who uses that wealth to directly contribute to harmful causes, and any sequel to Hogwarts Legacy will have to wrangle with those issues all over again.
Published: Feb 23, 2023 04:57 am