Hogwarts Legacy, the action role-playing title from Avalanche Software and Warner Bros. Games sees players play as students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and go on a journey to uncover a hidden truth of the wizarding world. The game got mostly positive reviews from fans and critics alike with praises for its open-world, storyline, side quests, character designs, and more.
The game saw record-breaking sales upon launch and Warner Bros. Games has now revealed that the game sold a whopping 22 million copies across platforms, breaking the long-standing sales record that had been held by the popular first-person shooter title Call of Duty and Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto 5 for the last 15 years.
Hogwarts Legacy Breaks 15 Years Long Sales Record
Hogwarts Legacy was released back on February 10, 2023, and was only available for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. The PS 4 and Xbox One version of the game was released in May and by then the game had sold over 15 million copies. The game was later released for Nintendo Switch in November 2023 and WB Games has told Variety that the game has topped the 2023 sales chart with 22 million copies sold.
The game has become the best-selling title of 2023, breaking the 15-year-long record that was held by Call of Duty since 2009 before Nintendo’s Wii Play topped the charts in 2008. Call of Duty has topped the charts since then and has only been left behind by Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto 5 in 2013 and Red Dead Redemption 2 in 2018.
Call of Duty again gained the top spot in 2019 with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Black Ops Cold War in 2020, Vanguard in 2021, and Modern Warfare 2 in 2022. Hogwarts Legacy also outsold some of the biggest game releases of 2023 including Game of the Year award winner Baldur’s Gate 3 which is not even in the top 10 and nominees for the award like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Alan Wake 2, and other titles like Modern Warfare 3 and Starfield.
What’s more impressive is that the game saw over 2 million sales during the holiday season and also became the second best-selling title in the UK, only behind EA SPORTS FC 24. Although the game did not receive any nomination at The Game Awards 2023, players still consider it one of the best games that was released last year and it currently boasts 84 on Metacritic and an 8.5 user score.
As much as it is incredible that Hogwarts Legacy outsold Modern Warfare 3, it can mostly be attributed to the disastrous launch of the game that saw it receiving negative reviews owing to its short and lackluster campaign. However, the game is still the second best-selling title of the year, just behind Hogwarts Legacy thanks to its multiplayer.
Hogwarts Legacy‘s stats shocked everyone and Warner Bros. Games is looking to ride on the solid reception of the game with several other games in the Potterverse with already announced Hogwarts Legacy spinoff Quidditch game and other unannounced games that are in development. Talking to Variety about the sales of the game, WB Interactive Entertainment president David Haddad stated that they are proud of the sales of the game and that it delighted the fans.
Follow us for more entertainment coverage on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
