It's not properly out yet, but Hogwarts Legacy is already one of the biggest games on Steam

Hogwarts Legacy was Steam's fourth most-popular game at one point during its debute, despite only releasing in early access for now. 

As spotted on SteamDB, Hogwarts Legacy hit a height of 302,314 concurrent players on Valve's storefront, at the time of writing. That was enough to make it the fourth most-played game, though it has since slipped to fifth, behind usual suspects Apex Legends, PUBG: Battlegrounds, Dota 2, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. 

That peak could rise further, as the game is still in its early access period, allowing those who pre-ordered the digital edition to play 72 hours earlier than anyone else. Also, SteamDB only began recording the game's player count earlier today, over a day after early access began. 

This means more players are expected once Hogwarts Legacy fully releases on February 10, 2023. We should have seen it coming really considering several months before the game released, it was climbing up the Steam charts. In fact, as of the time of writing this, Hogwarts Legacy is still sitting at the number one spot for both Steam's Top Wishlisted and Top Sellers lists.  

If you're one of the people playing right now, you should know that these slight tweaks to Hogwarts Legacy settings can make it more magical. As one player explains, making minor adjustments to Hogwarts Legacy's camera sensitivity in the game's settings can make it much smoother. If you're still waiting to play though, you should familiarize yourself with Hogwarts Legacy's fidelity vs performance graphics modes so you can make the most out of your game as soon as you start playing.

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.