It's official: Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions is on the way, but some Hogwarts Legacy fans are decidedly miffed.
"Conspiracy time: The only reason they didn’t have quidditch in the game is so they could sell it as its own game," suggests one thread in the Hogwarts Legacy subreddit. With over a thousand upvotes, it's unsurprising that those in the comments section agree with the theory.
"I don't think that qualifies as a conspiracy; that's pretty obvious," said one reply, accompanied by a resounding litany of Snape gifs depicting Alan Rickman's emphatic "Obviously" retort from Order of the Phoenix.
Quidditch Champions, now taking playtest sign-ups, seems to remedy one glaringly-absent part of Hogwarts Legacy by turning the wizarding sport into its own game. The in-game excuse for zero presence of Quidditch was that headmaster Black had cancelled that year's tournament, but disgruntled players have taken to Reddit to voice concerns that Quidditch might have been left out of Hogwarts Legacy on purpose.
In response to one such query on Twitter, retired game developer Troy Leavitt weighed in. "I believe the Champions game was greenlit to fill the hole left by its absence from Hogwarts Legacy - but not before it was clear Quidditch wouldn't be in HL," he said in a reply. He clarified this further, saying that he "wasn't aware of any dev working on it" while he was working on Hogwarts Legacy two years ago.
I was a major advocate for including Quidditch in Hogwarts Legacy and was very sad when it became clear that we weren't going to be able to. So, although not developed by Avalanche and not tied into HL (AFAIK), I still have high hopes for this online multiplayer version. https://t.co/6KjbSzcenvApril 17, 2023
Amid the frustration, though, Reddit user kelpie007 reminds their fellow commenters that a dedicated Quidditch game is nothing new. "Do y'all remember playing the World Quidditch Cup video game? I thought it was such a great game," they said, putting a positive spin on things. "Those controls were tight, it was a fast paced game, I hope it's not too far off. But perhaps way more personalized in terms of costume like HL."
A Quidditch game in the more realistic style of Hogwarts Legacy would be cool. But since it's being developed by Unbroken Studios rather than Avalanche, and judging by the cartoonish art style as shown in the Twitter announcement, Quidditch Champions resembles the Harry Potter mobile games more closely than the recent RPG.
It does seem it will likely be a console game though; you're asked to select your console of choice when you sign up for the playtests, and mobile platforms aren't among the options. Just wait until Black hears about this.
Check out these other games like Hogwarts Legacy to make magic outside the wizarding world.
