Cliff Notes – Harry Potter video game cancelled as Hogwarts Legacy 2 becomes focus
- Warner Bros. has cancelled plans for a DLC expansion for Hogwarts Legacy, which was expected to include new quests and activities, due to concerns over its value relative to cost.
- The decision follows a series of underperforming titles from Warner Bros. in 2024, prompting a shift in focus towards the development of a sequel to Hogwarts Legacy.
- Despite Hogwarts Legacy’s success as the best-selling game of 2023, Warner Bros. is exercising caution in future Harry Potter game projects, particularly after the disappointing launch of Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions.
Harry Potter video game cancelled as Hogwarts Legacy 2 becomes focus
Warner Bros. has opted to abandon its DLC plans for Hogwarts Legacy, meaning focus will likely shift to the upcoming sequel.
It’s obvious that Warner Bros. is not happy with how its gaming division has been going. It didn’t have a single hit in 2024, with Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League and MultiVersus both underperforming badly.
Combined with Mortal Kombat 1 apparently not doing too hot either, Warner Bros. elected to shut down three whole studios and scrap its Wonder Woman game as well.
The one recent success story has been 2023’s Harry Potter role-player Hogwarts Legacy, but that hasn’t protected it from restructuring efforts, that have led to its DLC expansion being cancelled.
Although DLC was never formally announced, reliable reports from last year revealed that Hogwarts Legacy would receive a paid expansion that adds new quests, activities, and the like. This expansion would also come bundled with a new definitive edition of Hogwarts Legacy.
It would certainly make sense for Warner Bros. to double down on Hogwarts Legacy, considering it smashed the company’s expectations, becoming the best-selling game of 2023.
A recent Bloomberg report, however, says that these DLC plans and the definitive edition, which were meant to arrive this year, have now been abandoned.
According to those familiar with Warner Bros. plans, this was due to concerns that the new content wasn’t enough to justify its cost. Reportedly, the DLC on its own would’ve cost between $20 and $30 (so probably £20 to £30).
It’s a shocking decision regardless, especially since Warner Bros. listed Harry Potter as one of the main IPs it would be focusing on going forward and re-releasing Hogwarts Legacy seems like easy money.
What Harry Potter games are in development?
Plans for the Hogwarts Legacy sequel apparently haven’t changed, with Bloomberg adding that it’s still in development at Avalanche Software.
In 2023, there were rumours of a new Lego Harry Potter game being in the works; one that would cover all of the mainline movies in a similar vein to Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. However, nothing has come of these rumours so far.
Given the DLC cancellation, Warner Bros. may be feeling a bit more cautious about what sort of Harry Potter games it greenlights going forward, especially since anything that uses the IP isn’t guaranteed to be successful.
In September 2024, Warner Bros. launched online sports game Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions. Given its lack of sales figures and dwindling player count on Steam, it clearly hasn’t been anywhere near as popular as Hogwarts Legacy, which still has thousands of active PC players compared to Quidditch Champions’ couple of hundred.
A new HBO TV show based on the books is expected in 2026 or 2027 but given the problems Warner Bros. is experiencing it seems very unlikely they’ll be able to support it with any new games – with Hogwarts Legacy 2 thought to still be several years away.
Are you playing Quidditch Champions? (Warner Bros.)