Hogwarts Legacy sold over 22 million copies, Warner Bros. exec brags it's 'the best-selling game of the year in the entire industry worldwide'

pcgamer.com:

Warner Bros. Games has announced that the Harry Potter action-RPG Hogwarts Legacy sold over 22 million copies by the end of 2023, with roughly 2 million of those sales over the December festive period. «But it’s not just the units sold that I’m so proud of, it’s just that it delighted the fans so much,» Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment president David Haddad told Variety.

Haddad is positively gushing about the game. «It brought Harry Potter to life in a new way for gamers where they could be themselves in this world, in this story,» says Haddad, «and I think that’s really why it resonated so well and remains the best-selling game of the year in the entire industry worldwide. That’s a position that typically is held by one of these incumbent’s sequel games and we’re so proud that we’ve been able to break into the top ranks.»

The odd phrasing of «incumbent's sequel games» is referring to things like Call of Duty, GTA, Madden, NBA2K and so on: The latest entries in well-established series that have built huge fanbases over time. This does make Hogwarts Legacy an exceptional commercial performer: Even the critically acclaimed and top-selling Elden Ring didn't outsell that year's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

Warner Bros. shared a bunch of fun facts about the game, with Haddad emphasising «many» players have gone through the game multiple times. Collectively they've played for 707 million hours, brewed 819 million potions, harvested 1.3 billion magical plants, rescued 593 million magical beasts, and defeated 4.9 billion dark wizards.

But the only number that really counts is that sales figure, because it means Warner Bros. is now looking at Harry Potter with even more dollar signs in its eyes than before. It has