Digital wands at the ready! Hogwarts Legacy is an action RPG developed by Avalance Studios and published under the Portkey Games label (owned by Warner Bros. Games). The title, which invites players to enroll as students in Hogwarts in the late 1800s, began development in 2018 and finally launched on February 10th of this year.
And so far, Hogwarts Legacy has been a massive commercial success and attracted a huge player base.
Hogwarts Legacy sold 12 million copies in its first two weeks
Hogwarts Legacy has so far generated over a billion dollars in revenue and drawn legions of players back to the fantasy realm first introduced in 1997. It’s reportedly sold over 12 million copies in its first two weeks.
Released on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, with Xbox One and Nintendo Switch launches coming in the spring, is Portkey’s best-selling title to date, even matching Elden Ring’s first two-week sales performance.
Given the game’s immense popularity, we wanted to delve into its vast audience to see where it resonates the most and what sorts of players flock to this iteration of the Harry Potter universe.
Hogwarts Legacy was the #5 game by MAU in February 2023
Before we break down Hogwarts Legacy by player demographics and geographies, let’s look at some essential high-level insights from the Game Performance Monitor.
After its release, Hogwarts Legacy had the fifth-highest MAU (monthly active users) across PC and console platforms.
The only titles to outperform it by MAU in February were Fortnite, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, Minecraft, and Grand Theft Auto V.
In February, 68% of the game’s active users played on PC. PlayStation gamers accounted for 23% of the player base and only 9% played on Xbox.
PC is currently the most popular platform for Hogwarts Legacy, due in part to the relatively limited install base of PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. This may change when the game launches on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in May and Nintendo Switch in July.
Among all PlayStation 5 users, 19% played Hogwarts Legacy in February. This was the highest player share per platform across PC and console.
The game accumulated 76.2 million viewership hours on Twitch, making it the platform’s fourth most-viewed title in February.
North American gamers accounted for 40% of Hogwarts Legacy‘s player base in February 2023
While Harry Potter is a global IP, Hogwarts Legacy is still a premium game on PC and console. The game has less mainstream appeal in markets that don’t have easy access to console and PC gaming hardware or where mobile and free-to-play models are more prevalent.
This being the case, it’s no surprise that the game’s top five markets by MAU were the US, Germany, the UK, Russia, and France. Over 70% of February’s monthly active users were in North America and Western Europe. Notably, even though the game isn’t available for purchase on Steam in Russia, players in the country are finding creative ways to access and play the title.
Latin America and Middle East & Africa, both growth markets for PC and console gaming but more established for mobile gaming, accounted for just 10% of the MAU distribution.
North America accounted for 40% of Hogwarts Legacy’s MAU, followed by 31% in Western Europe.
The top five markets by MAU for Hogwarts Legacy were countries in North America and Europe.
34% of Hogwarts Legacy players in February identified as female
According to the Game Health Tracker covering PC and console gamers between 10 and 50 years old in the US, nearly two-thirds of this Hogwarts Legacy segment in February identified as male. The game was most popular among male games aged 10 to 17 and 25 to 34, with the highest share of female players only reaching 13% (also 25 to 34 years old).
Interestingly but maybe not unexpectedly, the game’s demographic breakdown in the US matches the Action RPG genre. Last year’s Global Gamer Study, also covering PC and console gamers between 10 and 50 years old in the US, identified that 63% of Action RPG players identified as male and 35% as female.
The age distribution between Hogwarts Legacy and Action RPG players also mirrored one another closely.
Out of the Hogwarts Legacy players surveyed in February 2023, nearly three-quarters of them identified as male, with the largest player share being male gamers between 10 and 17 years-old.
In comparison, Harry Potter IP has a more gender-balanced fan base, at least in the US. Newzoo’s report covering the broader media and entertainment landscape found that among US gamers aged 10-50 54% of Harry Potter fans identified as female and 42% as male. Millennials made up the largest fan base for Harry Potter IP, which contrasts with Gen Z being the most sizable player group for Hogwarts Legacy.
This all suggests that the genre and gameplay mechanics of Hogwarts Legacy had a more significant impact on player demographics than Harry Potter IP. The fact that the title’s player base aligned with the Action RPG demographic breakdown shows that mechanics played a bigger role in attracting players.
What made Hogwarts Legacy such a successful launch?
The Harry Potter universe is immensely popular, so it’s no surprise that Hogwarts Legacy has such a splashy launch. Of course, there’s more to the game’s success than its franchise power.
One important factor is that the game caters to a long-held fantasy of Harry Potter fans: being a student at Hogwarts. While previous Harry Potter titles contained certain elements of the franchise’s universe, Hogwarts Legacy was more encompassing. This latest release gives players the ability to attend classes, make friends, experience the age-old rivalries between Gryffindor and Slytherin, and freely explore the school all in one game.
Hogwarts Legacy also doesn’t have the familiar characters and storylines from the original novels and films. This gives players more freedom to express themselves and grow within the game.
Also, on a strategic level, the game launched in an advantageous period where there was limited competition, making it easier to generate a huge amount of buzz.
According to Newzoo’s Game Health Tracker, 40% of our sample group in the US was aware of the game before its launch, which increased dramatically to 72% when it was released. This percentage far exceeds awareness for other RPG/Adventure titles after 1 January 2023.
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