Hogwarts Legacy had the fastest-selling launch month of any game except for FIFA titles in Europe, according to GamesIndustry.biz. The European charts by Games Sales Data (GSD) date back to six years ago, during which only the football games released by EA Sports had a bigger launch month than Hogwarts Legacy. This means the open world action RPG by Avalanche Software managed to beat even heavyweights like Infinity Ward's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II and Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption 2.
The game had already registered some impressive milestones, such as selling over 12 million units in two weeks (for over $850 million in revenues), becoming the biggest launch ever for a Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment game, breaking the previous Twitch record for concurrent viewers watching a single player game, and comfortably positioning itself at the #8 place on Steam's all-time concurrent players' chart (#2 if you consider single player-only games, behind only Cyberpunk 2077).
Despite the success enjoyed by Hogwarts Legacy, the GSD chart reveals a downward trend compared to February 2022, with sales decreasing by 10%. Granted, last year's February included big releases such as Dying Light 2, Total War: Warhammer III, Elden Ring, and Horizon Forbidden West. This year, the month of February was definitely lighter when it comes to triple-A releases. The full GSD chart only includes one new game released last month, Atomic Heart.
| 1 | Hogwarts Legacy (Warner Bros) |
| 2 | FIFA 23 (EA) |
| 3 | Grand Theft Auto 5 (Rockstar) |
| 4 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Activision Blizzard) |
| 5 | NBA 2K23 (2K Games) |
| 6 | Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar) |
| 7 | The Last of Us: Part 2 (Sony) |
| 8 | God of War Ragnarok (Sony) |
| 9 | Atomic Heart (Focus Entertainment) |
| 10 | Mario Kart 8: Deluxe (Nintendo) |
| 11 | Borderlands 3 (2K Games) |
| 12 | Dead Space (EA) |
| 13 | Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla (Ubisoft) |
| 14 | It Takes Two (EA) |
| 15 | Nintendo Switch Sports (Nintendo) |
| 16 | The Last of Us: Remastered (Sony) |
| 17 | WWE 2K22 (2K Games) |
| 18 | Sid Meier’s Civilization 6 (2K Games) |
| 19 | Gran Turismo 7 (Sony) |
| 20 | Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition (Nintendo/Mojang) |
Hogwarts Legacy has the potential to sell much more, given the publisher's plans to release it on platforms with a huge install base, such as PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.
Microsoft's and Sony's previous generation consoles will have to wait an extra month to play Hogwarts Legacy due to the recent delay from April 4th to May 5th. Nintendo Switch users have an even longer wait ahead of them, as the game is scheduled to be released on Nintendo's hybrid home console/handheld on July 25th.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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