- Hogwarts Legacy became one of 2023’s biggest releases.
- It was the best-selling game in the US last year.
- This makes it the first non-Call of Duty/Rockstar game to achieve the position since 2008.
While it may have missed nominations at The Game Awards, Hogwarts Legacy was among 2023’s biggest games. The game sold over 22 million units last year, beating out industry giants like Call of Duty.
In the UK, it took the top spot as the region’s best-selling physical game. As expected, the results are not much different in the US. Hogwarts Legacy was also the best-selling game in this region last year.
Why it matters: 2023 was full of great AAA titles, and Hogwarts Legacy was shrouded in controversy at release. Because of this scenario, it appeared that the odds were against this Harry Potter adaptation, but it managed to pull through.
2023 Year Top 20 Best-Selling Premium Games – U.S. (Dollar Sales, Physical and Digital from DLP members, Excludes add-on content) pic.twitter.com/LR6Za5YQ24
— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) January 18, 2024
This report comes from Mat Piscatella, who works at Circana and releases data on the best-selling titles in the US every month.
Hogwarts Legacy was the biggest game in this region last year across both digital and physical formats. Whether it be on PlayStation, Steam, or Xbox, the Harry Potter adaptation stood alone at the top.
This position has been dominated by Call of Duty and Rockstar titles since 2008. Therefore, Avalanche Software’s release is the first game to break this streak, pushing Modern Warfare 3 to the second position.
Other big releases, like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, finished the year in the 4th position. Elsewhere, Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is listed at the 5th spot, but digital sales are not part of the data in Zelda’s case.
Interestingly, Hogwarts Legacy was also PlayStation’s biggest game of 2023. While Spider-Man 2 set a new record at launch, it was released much later in the year, finishing as the second-best-selling game on PlayStation hardware.
Fans had longed to get lost in the magical world of Harry Potter through the interactive medium of gaming for many years. With Hogwarts Legacy filling this void, it was always bound to be a success.
Still, nobody expected the game to become this big last year. In fact, this success was so unprecedented that Warner Bros ended up surprised at the results.
Following this performance, Warner Bros has a newfound interest in the gaming industry. A sequel to Hogwarts Legacy appears to have begun development, and the studio has confirmed plans to expand this IP through more games in the future.
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[News Reporter]
Abiyan is on track to complete his Computer Science bachelor’s degree. His enthusiasm for writing and gaming motivates him to keep readers and gamers updated with the latest information from the industry. In his free time, Abiyan enjoys playing Dota 2 and Rocket League. Abiyan has also been cited in reputed websites such as Kitguru, Comicbook, GamingBible, Eurogamer and Gamingbolt.
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