Hogwarts Legacy has just dethroned a franchise known to all, allowing it to make history. It had been several years since anyone had succeeded.
Hogwarts Legacy clearly marked 2023, itself rich in major releases. It must be said that a game set in the Harry Potter universe should be a certain success. It didn’t fail to attract an audience of all ages, including people not necessarily used to gaming. The sales figures are therefore logically considerable, and for once even more than one can imagine. For good reason, it surpassed a famous license in 2023, ending several years of supremacy.
Hogwarts Legacy and Fort que FIFA?
Let’s place the cursor on the United Kingdom and analyze the numbers. Hogwarts Legacy has sold more than 12 million physical copies there. Unsurprisingly, the PS5 version sold best, followed by the PS4 edition and the Nintendo Switch edition. This isn’t particularly surprising since it was the first game on PlayStation 5 to release first. Yes, there were several months between the release of the game on the new and old Sony consoles, which is not insignificant.
In any case, it’s an impressive result and makes it the UK’s best-selling game in 2023 in terms of physical sales. For a long time it was the FIFA franchise (now EA FC) that took that spot. One of the few times it was dethroned was in 2013 because of GTA 5. It then crushed the competition for ten years before Hogwarts Legacy came onto the scene. So we can say it without getting too wet: it is historical. One thing is certain: it is unlikely that something like this will happen again so quickly.
A big success in the USA
This isn’t the first time Hogwarts Legacy has caused a surprise. In November 2023, Call of Duty Modern Warfare III reached a top spot in the physical and digital sales rankings in the United States. Usually it’s cult licenses like those from Rockstar Games that succeed in something like this. But nothing is impossible for the production of Avalanche Software, and that shows it well. We still assume that Christmas must have boosted sales.
We might even go so far as to say it was strategic in nature. The Switch Edition launched in November, just as we started making gifts for the family. So while there’s a big gap to the PS5 version, the impact has undoubtedly been significant. However, there was not so much agreement on “Hogwarts Legacy” on the Big N machine. The title suffered from numerous technical problems upon its release. Some of these were usually fixed by a major update.
