Hogwarts Legacy dev tries to cool the community's excitement about the summer update, says it's just a 'small way of us showing appreciation'
Wants to "set some expectations."
Hogwarts Legacy is by certain metrics the most successful game of 2023, with a Warner Bros. exec purring at the start of the year that the Harry Potter RPG was the "best-selling game of the year in the entire industry worldwide." That commercial success, with over 22 million sales and counting, has brought renewed focus on whether the game will eventually receive an expansion or any significant DLC (beyond some formerly PlayStation-exclusive trinkets crossing over).
Earlier this year the game's developer, WB Avalanche, said that new things would indeed be coming this summer, which had wizards and witches rushing to their Divination equipment. There are several features oft-requested by the community that seem like a good shout for inclusion: a photo mode, for example. Others such as the inclusion of Quidditch, given that Warner Bros is developing a standalone Quidditch game, seem quite unlikely.
It may be that some have been getting too excited, because now Hogwarts Legacy's community manager has stepped in to somewhat quell expectations. "We are thrilled that you are all excited for the free update to Hogwarts Legacy this summer," writes Chandler Wood on X. "We love seeing all the guesses and hopes for what will be part of this update, and while we are not ready to talk about it yet, I do want to set some expectations for what we are working on.
Brace yourselves Muggles: "Our original wording of 'additional updates and features for the game' was very intentional. This update is a small way of us showing appreciation to our players for the amazing reception to the game."
You could sit here all day trying to parse that, but "small way of us showing appreciation" definitely seems to be encouraging some fans to take a cold shower. This may be because, as well as fairly reasonable asks like photo mode, other popular requests include things like a NG+ mode and a major expansion. The former wouldn't easily mesh with Hogwarts Legacy's structure (where you balance the action while learning new spells at school), while the latter… Well, Warner Bros likes money and it would sell gangbusters. But the bigger question is whether WB Avalanche's time is best spent there.
Whatever Hogwarts Legacy has in store, we're not going to be short of Potter-related games and more in the years to come. Warner Bros regards the Potterverse as one of its "blue chip" properties, which Hogwarts Legacy has arguably proven, and as well as Quidditch Champions there's a new HBO series on the way and lord knows what else.