Hogwarts Legacy has appeared to be a success since its release in February, breaking sales and streaming records, but completion statistics have caused a major debate among fans about how successful the game really is. Although Hogwarts Legacy has received mostly positive reviews to match the high number of sales, the game's popularity could be decreasing.
The first sign of this shift is that the Hogwarts Legacy player count has dropped significantly since the game's launch. Some fans argue that this drop is expected, since Hogwarts Legacy is a single player game that most people will only play once. However, the completion statistics don't necessarily support this theory.
Currently, the completion rate for the game on Steam is only 25%, which has surprised some fans. Rather than completing Hogwarts Legacy and moving on to other games, most players are dropping the game without finishing it.
However, other fans have pointed out that most games have low completion rates. Other open-world RPGs, like Skyrim, The Witcher 3, and Elden Ring have completion rates in the 20-35% range. Some fans argue that Hogwarts Legacy is easier and meant for more casual players, and that it can't be compared to some of these notoriously difficult games. Hogwarts Legacy is still an extremely popular game with positive gameplay reviews, but the idea that it could be decreasing in popularity could have some merit.
The Harry Potter series and Hogwarts Legacy have been surrounded by controversy, facing claims of transphobia, antisemitism, and racial stereotyping, and there are plenty of people who would be happy with it decreasing in popularity. From the beginning, the trans community and its allies have called for a boycott of the game due to repeated and deliberate transphobia from J.K. Rowling, the creator of the Harry Potter series. J.K. Rowling has been known to give funding to transphobic organizations, and any money she makes from the royalties or sales of the game could be going to those organizations.
Despite these concerns, Hogwarts Legacy still broke sales records. Now that the game's popularity could be decreasing, some people feel as if it's too little too late: the game has already made hundreds of millions. As the debate over the game's popularity and social impact continues, fans will have to decide for themselves whether or not the game is worth it.
Hogwarts Legacy is available now for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. PS4 and Xbox One versions release on May 5 and the Nintendo Switch version releases July 25.