Hogwarts Legacy is Warner Bros. Games' biggest global launch ever

Hogwarts Legacy is Warner Bros. Games' biggest global launch ever, surpassing $12 million units sold and earning $850 million in sales in its first two weeks across PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

The open-world RPG's soaring success at launch is particularly noteworthy considering it still hasn't released on PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch - when it does, its player base will no-doubt expand substantially. Hogwarts Legacy is scheduled to hit PS4 and Xbox One on April 4, and Switch a few months later on July 25.

"We are so thrilled and proud to see the player response to Hogwarts Legacy from gamers, fans who are new to gaming and reviewers around the world," said Warner Bros. Games president David Haddad. "Our development team at Avalanche delivered an amazing, high-quality Wizarding World experience that truly fulfills the fan fantasy of life at Hogwarts and our publishing teams have executed a globally impactful launch campaign."

Looking at Hogwarts Legacy's first two weeks, it's actually not entirely surprising to see it top the list of Warner Bros. Games' best launch. Shortly after release, it cracked Steam's top 10 all-time player record, passing up Apex Legends and Warzone 2. Shortly after, it hit 800,000 players and stole all four Top Seller spots on Steam.

As Warner Bros. notes in a press release, Hogwarts Legacy also broke streaming records when it became the biggest single-player game ever on Twitch with 1.28 million peak concurrent viewers at launch.

These stats are all the more striking with the context of the ongoing culture war stemming from comments made by Harry Potter author and the Wizarding World's creator, J.K. Rowling.

The release of Hogwarts Legacy has been the subject of criticism and debate due to J.K. Rowling's public stance on gender identity, which continues to challenge the inclusivity at the heart of the Harry Potter community. Here is our explainer on the Hogwarts Legacy controversy.