First and foremost, like a large swath of third-party Nintendo Switch 2 games, physical copies of Hogwarts Legacy are game key cards. At least the file size won’t set players back too much though. The Switch 2 edition of Hogwarts Legacy takes 23.1GB, which is a tad more than the 17.1GB of the Switch 1. But that small added data is put to good use, as the Switch 2 version boasts a set of improvements over its predecessor.

Many magical wand enthusiasts will be delighted to hear that this edition features Joy-Con 2 mouse functionality. You can switch between mouse controls seamlessly; simply point the sensor on pretty much any surface imaginable. Don’t like how slow or quick the cursor glides? Thankfully, Portkey Games has included a handy mouse sensitivity slider for aiming and camera control. The sensitivity can be adjusted on a sliding scale from .5 to 4, so there’s a good range to accompany all mouse pads (including improvised surfaces like armrests and the like, of course).

"Don’t like how slow or quick the mouse cursor glides? Thankfully, Portkey Games has included a handy mouse sensitivity slider for aiming and camera control."

I like the holistic application of mouse controls here. You can cursor through all the menus, use the mouse for camera control, and of course aim your magical wand to cast precisely targeted spells at all manner of creatures. I just came off of reviewing Hitman for Switch 2, so I appreciate not just the existence of mouse controls (as Hitman doesn’t have any), but the variety of applications for the Joy-Con 2’s mouse mode. Like the Switch 1 version, you can also opt to wave your Joy-Cons to simulate the casting of spells, and even chart a flight path on your broom. The motion controls feel about the same here as they did on the Switch 1, so there’s not much to talk about in that regard. And there’s even touch screen controls to help navigate menus and the like quicker.

Now, HD rumble, that feature is notably improved over its predecessor. Getting hit by an exploding Bombardia spell or merely watching action-packed cutscenes feels much lively and immersive with the variances in rumble intensity that accompany such moments. And there’s quite a few instances of rumble through the game too, showing that the devs put some care into not just how the game looks but feels to play.

Speaking of looks, the game’s graphics are notably improved over the Switch 1. Visuals are about on par with the PS4 Pro, with resolutions at 1440P docked and 1080P in handheld mode. That said, if you’ve played other Unreal Engine 4 titles on modern graphics cards, you’re bound to be fatigued as I am by the janky way that hair shimmers and behaves. That still translates to this edition, with hair tips looking oddly translucent and individual strands phasing in and out of existence. At least, the color pops this time around, thanks to the 4K docked support and wonderful HDR handheld screen.

"The color pops this time around, thanks to the 4K docked support and wonderful HDR handheld screen."

Performance-wise, this is about as good as a AAA third-party game is gonna get on a modern Nintendo system. It runs better than Hitman Signature Edition on Switch 2, usually hovering around 30 FPS with few noticeable dips. I’m also impressed by the load times here. Loading up a save file only takes 10 seconds on average, and going in-between menus is fast, apart from the animated map transition which takes around 5 seconds give or take. As a 40-hour RPG, Hogwarts Legacy is an ideal handheld experience on-the-go, just mind the Switch 2’s three hour battery life. Finally, Hogwarts Legacy is a GameChat compatible game, meaning you can hang out with long-distance friends and share your screen with others as you advance the wizarding ranks. For Switch 1 owners of Hogwarts Legacy, the updated Switch 2 version is absolutely worth the $10 update. And for those entering Hogwarts for the first time within Nintendo’s ecosystem, the Switch 2 edition costs just as much as the Switch 1 version at $59.99.

"Hogwarts Castle is shimmering with environmental detail from every corner."

And for those unfamiliar with the game entirely, here’s a brief overview of my time with it, sprinkled with some impressions of Switch 2 exclusive functionality. The thing that immediately gets my attention is just how littered with rich environmental detail Hogwarts Castle is. There’s loads of nice little interactive doodads around the environment, helping Hogwarts Castle feel that much more alive. I can’t help but grin at all the unique moving portraits hanging up on the gilded walls of the illustrious wizarding school. For Harry Potter fans, you’re getting a ton of referential material here as well, no doubt, and there’s plenty of lore entries in the Field Guide to read through at your leisure.

NPC chatter is also impressive, with character conversations happening in the background as if life were actually occurring separate from the hero’s involvement. Though, background NPC dialogue does tend to repeat quite often if you’ve stopped by to listen to more than a couple of them at a time, rendering it somewhat uncanny seeing different faces uttering the same exact lines with the same voices. But to the credit of all the incidental NPC dialogue, many of the conversations divulge lore about the wider Potter universe and flesh out the world rather wonderfully.

Character conversations happen in the background as if life were actually occurring separate from the hero’s involvement.[/custom-quote]

Helping to further embody the whimsy and magic of the setting is the Williams-esque soundtrack. It’s just a delight for the ears as you explore the castle and the surrounding open-world countryside. What’s surprising is the music isn’t merely a bunch of re-used tracks from the films but entirely fresh scores from a trio of talented composers. While the music draws one into the fantastical world, the same can’t always be said for some of the voice acting. The voices in Hogwarts Legacy varies in quality. Important characters sound like a natural fit to the Potter world and their performances don’t disappoint. However, some of the side NPCs sound…off, like a voice filter was passed through to make them sound younger or vice versa. Which kind of makes sense considering the voice filter within the character creator scales based on the age you select.

All told, Hogwarts Legacy is like an ornately wrapped gift with regards to its presentation. All the menus have neat little animated elements and sound effects which make it more playful and satisfying to sift through inventory the map. And as previously mentioned, the art style and sound has a magic to it that pretty much nails the Harry Potter aesthetic, and it runs and looks great on Switch 2 to boot.

"Your chosen house determines your common room location and grants access to house-exclusive quests."

But Hogwarts Legacy is more than mere aesthetics, even if its world presentation is my favorite aspect. Player-driven choices shape the content you experience throughout the game. For instance, the ever-popular “Which Hogwarts house am I?” quiz is here in truncated form, and your answers directly determine your house placement. Your chosen house determines your common room location and grants access to house-exclusive quests. Decisions like these make Hogwarts Legacy feel like an immersive wizarding school experience.

Beyond house selection, players also make meaningful choices like which relationships to develop and how to respond during pivotal story moments. Though, I have to say, the main plot doesn’t quite do it for me. It hits predictable cliches and makes your character a bit too ‘perfect’, like an untouchable hero who just effortlessly saves the day. I’m not a huge Potter fan, but I can still appreciate all the cool fanservice and worldbuilding done here, but in terms of just pure plot and writing, Hogwarts Legacy doesn’t do much with its unremarkable story and side quests.

"If you’re not confident in aiming damage-dealing spells like Incendio yourself, target lock-in is available to swiftly cycle between enemies."

Combat is your traditional action RPG fare as well, except colored through the lens of the Wizarding World. You fight using various spells cast from your magical wand, execute jumps and dodge rolls to evade attacks and/or run from combat altogether. I’m not super fond of the over-the-shoulder camera here, and would probably prefer a wider field of view or maybe even something resembling an isometric perspective, but it’s not a deal breaker. The zoom aiming and instant shoulder toggle help make the usual clunkiness involved with this perspective more manageable. And being that the Switch 2 version includes mouse control aiming, this version has a leg up on other consoles due to the better precision. If you’re not confident in aiming damage-dealing spells like Incendio yourself, target lock-in is available to swiftly cycle between enemies.

There’s a good selection of spells here, and I like the progression needed to learn them. You basically add new spells to your repertoire as you progress the story and level up, very basic and standard, I know, but I’d rather that than some overly complicated skill tree or worst of all, a battle pass structure. The added immersion from having to complete an acrobatic wand motion with the mouse or thumbstick to learn each individual spell is a nice touch.

"Solving the castle’s numerous secrets rewards the player with Field Guide pages, which provide further history behind the castle."

Lastly, the investigative gameplay here may intrigue some more puzzle or detective-minded game fans, despite how simplistic it can be. Hogwarts is positively brimming with secret rooms, riddles, and a fair amount of invisible portraits asking to be uncovered. Solving the castle’s numerous secrets rewards the player with Field Guide pages, which provide further history behind the castle and lore of the surrounding world. Of course, the entirety of the game isn’t purely set inside the castle walls, so that selfsame riddle-laden gameplay extends to the swamps and caves throughout the fictional portrayal of England.

If you ever wanted to simulate what it might be like to enter into Hogwarts as a student, and perhaps fight a few dragons along the way, Hogwarts Legacy supplies that fantasy with some competent gameplay and a satisfying RPG structure. While Hogwarts Legacy on Switch 2 may not be that much different from other versions, it’s a noticeable  improvement over the Switch 1 port with the support of PC-centric features like mouse controls.

This game was reviewed on the Nintendo Switch 2.

In a report about the current state of WB Games, Schrier wrote about a host of studios under the publisher, with Avalanche’s success with Hogwarts Legacy being a highlight in what has been an era of lacklustre releases.

Alongside the sequel and additional content, the report also indicates that Avalanche might be working on a “refreshed” version of Hogwarts Legacy. This comes in the wake of the critical and commercial failures of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and MultiVersus.

“Avalanche is now working on new content for Hogwarts Legacy as well as a sequel,” reported Shcrier. “But questions linger about whether the success of the first game can even be replicated, let alone surpassed — or if the pent-up demand has already been satiated.”

Schrier also spoke about the development of Hogwarts Legacy being turbulent, taking several years to develop. Teams from just about every studio under the WB Games banner have reportedly contributed to its development.

The report comes in a month after Warner Bros. announced that David Haddad would be stepping down from his leadership role of the company’s Interactive Entertainment side of the business. Haddad was originally brought in to head up the business back in 2013, and Schrier’s report highlights some of the bigger mis-steps by the company when it comes to its various releases.

Hogwarts Legacy itself was also recently in the news thanks to a major update that brought with it mod support for its PC release. Mods for Hogwarts Legacy can be created by using a free tool available on Epic Games Store, and is powerful enough to allow players to make their own quests, cosmetics, skins and dungeons. These mods can then be downloaded by other players through an interface in the game, with the backend for these mods being handled by CurseForge.

Hogwarts Legacy is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch. As of November 2024, more than 30 million copies of the title have been sold. For more details, check out our review.

EA Sports FC 24 is in second place, with sales increasing by 9 percent. It overtook Super Mario Bros. Wonder, which fell to third place. Meanwhile, Mortal Kombat 11 benefited from PS5 promotions to go from eighth to fourth. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is in fifth place as sales dropped by 50 percent week-over-week.

The rest of the top ten is typical, with titles like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Grand Theft Auto 5, Nintendo Switch Sports and Minecraft (Switch version) holding on. It remains to be seen if any upcoming new titles, including Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth and Tekken 8, will shake things up. Stay tuned in the meantime.

Call of Duty HQ also ranked second in monthly active users on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, which makes sense since it’s necessary for launching Modern Warfare 3. Hogwarts Legacy is still the top-selling game of the year-to-date, ranking third in dollar sales thanks to the launch of the Nintendo Switch version. The latter was also the second best-selling title on the platform for November.

Video game content spending amounted to $4.6 billion in November, a three percent drop year over year. Piscatella notes that “comparable strength” of releases is the reason, with last year seeing the launch of God of War: Ragnarok (which has sold over 15 million units to date) and Pokemon Scarlet and Violet (23.23 million copies sold as of September 2023).

November 2023 Top 20 Best-Selling Premium Games – U.S. (Dollar Sales, Excludes add-on content) pic.twitter.com/sskPh7JoGh

— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) December 13, 2023

YTD ending November 2023 Top 20 Best-Selling Premium Games – U.S. (Dollar Sales, Excludes add-on content) pic.twitter.com/XKp7H0JStA

— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) December 13, 2023

November video game content spending dropped 3% when compared to a year ago, to $4.6 billion. An 11% decline in Console & Portable Content spending was partially offset by 3% growth across each of the Mobile, Subscription, and 'PC, Cloud & Non-Console VR' Content segments.

— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) December 13, 2023

A primary driver of the year-on-year decline in Console & Portable Content was the comparable strength of the new release slate. November 2022 featured the launches of both God of War: Ragnarök and Pokémon: Scarlet/Violet.

— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) December 13, 2023

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III was the best-selling game of November, instantly becoming the 2nd best-selling game of 2023 year-to-date. It is the 5th consecutive year that a Call of Duty title was November’s best-seller (Red Dead Redemption II ranked 1st in Nov 2018).

— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) December 13, 2023

According to Circana’s Player Engagement Tracker, Call of Duty HQ (which includes Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III player activity) ranked 2nd in monthly active users across both PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles during the month of November, trailing only Fortnite.

— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) December 13, 2023

Hogwarts Legacy ranked 3rd in November full game dollar sales, driven by the launch of the Nintendo Switch version of the game. Hogwarts Legacy ranked as the #2 best-selling title on Nintendo Switch during November. Hogwarts Legacy remains the best-selling game of 2023 YTD.

— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) December 13, 2023

In a recent tweet, the development team said creating the best possible experience is its “top priority.” It didn’t offer any other reason for the delay. Nevertheless, given the size and scale of the title, in addition to its graphical fidelity, it makes sense to take more time to optimize it for the Switch’s hardware. It also makes sense to release in the Fall, which is usually quite lucrative due to its proximity to the holiday season.

Along with previous-gen consoles, Hogwarts Legacy is available for PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC. It’s sold over 15 million copies so far and generated over $1 billion in revenue for WB Games. Check out our official review of the title here.

Hogwarts Legacy launches on Nintendo Switch on 11/14/23. We know fans are looking forward to playing on Switch, therefore creating the best possible experience is our top priority. Thank you for your patience.

Available now on PS5 & PS4, Xbox X|S & Xbox One, and PC. pic.twitter.com/nADIeNbMvw

— Hogwarts Legacy (@HogwartsLegacy) May 12, 2023

Furthermore, the current-gen versions have done extremely well, becoming the fourth biggest releases of the year. It’s ahead of Dead Island 2 but behind Jedi: Survivor and Resident Evil Remake (as per Games Industry). As for Respawn Entertainment’s sequel, the physical sales dropped by 68 percent week-on-week. However, its launch sales were up by 30 percent over Jedi: Fallen Order, thanks to digital sales.

Dead Island 2 also saw its sales drop by 51 percent, as it moved to third place. As for the other recent release, Mojang’s action strategy Minecraft Legends, it’s still in 10th place. With The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom out this week, its sales should be interesting after all the hype.

Check out the top-ten best-selling physical titles in the UK for the week ending May 6th below.

The publisher also confirmed that the open-world action RPG earned $1 billion from global sales. The last major milestone was on February 23rd, with over 12 million sold and $850 million earned in the first two weeks of launch. WB Games’ senior brand and marketing manager Arien Darby revealed on LinkedIn that sell-through figures were 256 percent higher than the company’s projections.

Set 100 years before the Harry Potter books, Hogwarts Legacy sees players venturing to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as a fifth-year student. Capable of wielding ancient magic, they must learn more about it while facing Dark Wizards led by Victor Rookwood and rebel goblins under Ranrok.

Check out our review for more details. An update is also available with tons of fixes and an Arachnophobia mode.

As it stands, Hogwarts Legacy is only available for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC which means that the game is yet to be released for PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. Initially, the developer planned to release all versions of the game simultaneously but those plans were scrapped and last gen versions were initially pushed to April 2023 instead. As of now, these versions have once again been pushed to May, but we are confident that Hogwarts Legacy on PS4 and Xbox One platforms could be a much bigger deal than anyone would have anticipated – and there’s plenty of reasons as to why that’s the case.

As mentioned previously, Hogwarts Legacy has become a sales behemoth in a very short time. It was recently reported that Hogwarts Legacy’s launch week sales were almost double of what Elden Ring did in its launch week, and that the game is en route to crossing Elden Ring’s lifetime sales. Taking this information at face value, Hogwarts Legacy has already sold around 20 million units in just about a month.

However, it’s also important to consider that these sales figures are talking about an install base of around 40 to 50 million current gen console owners and PCs. For context, the PS4 has an install base of well over 117 million at this point and Xbox One has an estimated install base of over 51 million. So, it’s fair to assume that a good chunk of those users would be fans of the Wizarding World and thus, would be interested in getting Hogwarts Legacy for that particular system when it launches later this year.

While the delay in delivering a last gen console version of Hogwarts Legacy may have been seen as a negative by many, it could end up being one of the better decisions from the developer in the long term instead. You see, trying to juggle different versions of the same game for hardware that varies wildly in terms of horsepower can take a toll on the development team as a whole – so focusing on one version at a time is best for both parties in the long term. For instance, Cyberpunk 2077 released simultaneously on all platforms, and we all know how badly it struggles on last gen systems even with all the updates and patches that were released in the months following the release.

With Avalanche Software having a good amount of time to polish the game for the older platforms, fans can be confident that most if not all of the issues will be ironed out in the final release and what we can get is the best possible version for the particular system. Sure, it’s almost foolish to expect these versions to have the same level of graphical fidelity or the snappy load times as the current gen versions – but we can at least hope that it ends up being a technically stable release of the same game without any unreasonable setbacks to the core experience.

Another strong factor as to why Hogwarts Legacy on PS4 and Xbox One will be a big deal has to do with the public reception to the game. When Hogwarts Legacy released for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X and S consoles – there was an air of cautious skepticism for the game along with all the excitement that comes along with a AAA release of such a scale. Despite the many promising signs and gameplay showings prior to release, Hogwarts Legacy needed to prove itself that it would deliver on the many lofty promises it made with its marketing and hype.

And the jury can only be out when the game is in the hands of the players themselves, and with a shining user Metacritic score of 80+ on all three platforms – it’s clear that fans have approved of the product. As such, a lot of that skepticism can get discounted when it comes to the release of Hogwarts Legacy on PS4 and Xbox One. Fans know exactly what the game is, and what to expect from this release – so a lot of the ambiguity that comes with such a purchase is eliminated which should theoretically further the sales for these versions by a significant margin.

Avalanche Software has also made some rather smart decisions when it comes to post launch support for Hogwarts Legacy. The developer has stated that any potential DLCs and expansions could be announced after the last gen versions of the game have been released, which has been done with an intention so as to not shortchange anyone who don’t have access to the game. While the decision to withhold any information on the DLC could be purely driven by the aforementioned reasons, it could also double as a clever move for generating more interest for these releases.

Announcing additional content for a game like Hogwarts Legacy is sure to reignite interest within the game after the launch hype has slowed down, and doing so at a time when new versions of the game are coming out will surely nudge new players to jump aboard the hype train with hopes of playing the base game before the DLC eventually drops in the near future.

All of this comes together to paint a very promising picture for Hogwarts Legacy on PS4 and Xbox One. All that Avalanche Software needs to do now is to deliver the same experience without any unreasonable compromises on these legacy platforms. While I am no game development expert, this shouldn’t be a big ordeal since Unreal Engine 4 is known for being a pretty flexible tool that scales well across different platforms. And if the developers manage to do just that and more, the launch of Hogwarts Legacy on PS4 and Xbox One is sure to be more eventful than what many might have anticipated.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

In light of those numbers, it’s no surprise that the game is seeing plenty of engagement from players (to say the very least). In a recent tweet, in fact, WB Games revealed that since its launch a little over a month ago, the game has been collectively played for over 406 million hours by players worldwide. A few other stats were also revealed- players have collectively defeated over 2.25 billion dark wizards, brewed over 405 million potions, and grown over 674 million magical plants.

Hogwarts Legacy is available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. It is due out for PS4 and Xbox One on May 5, and for Nintendo Switch on July 25.

Merlin's beard! An enormous THANK YOU to everyone who has shared in the magic of Hogwarts Legacy. pic.twitter.com/492oQNBt9X

— Hogwarts Legacy (@HogwartsLegacy) March 10, 2023

Considering how well Elden Ring sold, that’s no easy feat, and now, details have emerged on what the overall picture of WB Games’ open world action RPG’s launch looked like. As per data released by GSD (via GamesIndustry), Hogwarts Legacy is already the sixth-best selling game of the last 12 months in the UK, and with just three weeks on the market, it is already on the verge of overtaking the lifetime sales of Elden Ring, with a launch week in the region that was 100% bigger than FromSoftware’s game, accounting for both physical and digital sales.

It was, as you would expect, the highest selling game of February in the UK, and drove software sales in the region to an 11% increase over February 2022, with a total of 2.8 million units of games sold in the region last month.

Considering the fact that it launched only for current-gen consoles and PC, as opposed to the cross-gen Elden Ring, that’s particularly impressive.

Hogwarts Legacy will launch for PS4 and Xbox One on May 5, and for the Nintendo Switch on July 25.