The gargantuan success of Hogwarts Legacy has sparked a significant Harry Potter push at Warner Bros., and the sport’s sequel will now share some story parts with the upcoming TV present.
Hogwarts Legacy, developed by Avalanche Software program and launched in February 2023, is now as much as an astonishing 30 million items bought, Warner Bros. confirmed to Variety.
Warner Bros. has known as Hogwarts Legacy 2 considered one of its “largest priorities” because it appears to be like to convey the unannounced follow-up to followers within the subsequent couple of years.
David Haddad, president of Warner Bros. Interactive Leisure, advised Selection that Avalanche has been coordinating a few of the big-picture storytelling parts within the Hogwarts Legacy sequel with the storylines that can play out within the Harry Potter HBO TV present.
In September, HBO issued a casting name as a part of its hunt for the following Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley. The casting name additionally dropped a touch about when filming will start, saying the community would solely “take into account youngsters who’re aged 11th of September in April 2025” and itemizing the filming dates as 2025-2026 within the UK. That will observe with Warner Bros. Discovery’s earlier announcement that the present would debut someday in 2026. Daniel Radcliffe, who performed Harry Potter, has stated he possible will not seem within the present.
The upcoming Harry Potter TV collection was formally introduced final April and is claimed to be a “trustworthy adaptation” of the novels by J.Okay. Rowling, who will function an govt producer. HBO has recruited Succession producers Francesca Gardiner and Mark Mylod as inventive heads for the present, with Gardiner serving as showrunner and govt producer whereas Mylod will govt produce and direct a number of episodes.
Warner Bros. had struggled to search out success with the post-Harry Potter Implausible Beasts movie collection. Selection famous that “Rowling herself has turn into an impediment to the way forward for the franchise due to the writer’s anti-trans public statements,” and (*2*).
However, based on Haddad, Hogwarts Legacy’s blockbuster success gave Warner Bros. the arrogance to make a significant Harry Potter push. “The remainder of the corporate was very interested in what we helped to unlock with Hogwarts Legacy final yr,” he stated.
Whereas Warner Bros. loved a mega hit with Hogwarts Legacy, its gaming enterprise has endured a more durable time this yr following the disastrous launch of Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. Quickly after the sport’s February 2024 launch, Warner Bros. admitted the failure of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League contributed to a $200 million hit to income.
Based on Bloomberg, employees at Rocksteady are at present engaged on a director’s lower of Hogwarts Legacy whereas management pitches a return to single-player following this live-service misstep. Rocksteady reportedly not too long ago suffered layoffs.
Warner Bros.’ video games enterprise, which additionally contains Mortal Kombat developer NetherRealm, has additionally revealed spin-off Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions, operates Smash Bros.-style brawler MultiVersus, launched the VR-exclusive Arkhamverse recreation Batman: Arkham Shadow, and has a Marvel Girl recreation in growth at Shadow of Mordor developer Monolith Productions.
Wesley is the UK Information Editor for IGN. Discover him on Twitter at @wyp100. You’ll be able to attain Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.