Hogwarts Legacy’s early access release is one of Steam’s biggest ever single-player launches
Hogwarts Legacy is off to a very fast start on PC, with the game enjoying one of the biggest launches ever for a single-player-only title on Steam.
As noted by independent market analyst Benji-Sales, SteamDB figures show Hogwarts Legacy’s concurrent player peak has surpassed Fallout 4’s and now trails only Cyberpunk 2077’s.
Hogwarts Legacy’s early access period began on February 7 for players who purchased the game’s Deluxe Edition, which is priced at $80 / £75 for P55 and Xbox Series X/S and $70 / £60 for PC.
The standard edition of the game, which costs $70 / £65 on consoles and $60 / £50 on PC, will be released this Friday, February 10, when player numbers can be expected to swell.
As it stands, Hogwarts Legacy’s peak concurrent player count on Steam is 489,139. That’s ahead of Fallout 4’s peak of 472,962, but less than half of Cyberpunk 2077’s record 1,054,388.
The game, which is based on the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, is releasing this week amid significant controversy around the publicly-stated views of its author regarding transgender rights.
The game is the subject of a boycott due to multiple public comments from Rowling perceived by many to be transphobic (for a full breakdown of the situation, we recommend this article by Glamour).
Although the author was not involved in the development of the game, critics note that Rowling will likely profit from Hogwarts Legacy and benefit from its popularity.
Read more on videogameschronicle.com
