Hogwarts Legacy 2: this petition signed by thousands of players aims to remove a very specific mechanic

Game news Hogwarts Legacy 2: this petition signed by thousands of players aims to remove a very specific mechanic

Fan service, ok, a game service, that’s no

Despite the controversies linked to the original author, the game taken from the Harry Potter universe, Hogwarts Legacy: Hogwarts Legacy was a real hit. The opus, developed by Avalanche Software is rated 84% on MetaCritic and even enjoyed a release on Nintendo Switch last year, in addition to being available on all consoles and PC. The title also benefited from a spotlight during the presentation of the capabilities of the PS5 Pro.

Or, Potterheads are worried about what Warner Bros intends to dothe publisher and co-owner of the license. The CEO of the firm announced during a call to investors in 2023 :

Our goal is to transform our biggest franchises, which are primarily console and PC based, with three to four year release schedules, to include more gameplay with paid services, cross-platform and free expansions. The goal is to allow more players to spend more time on more platforms.

See Hogwarts Legacy on Amazon

The voice of the players

Faced with this possibility of seeing a Hogwarts Legacy 2 released in service game mode, a petition was born online and is currently harvesting nearly 12,000 signatures. The objective is simple: to impose a divide against the studios which opt for a profitability strategy by opting for a game service formula. The features specific to this type of title that have been highly criticized are the use of the Battle Pass and microtransactions. According to the description of this petition, these features will harm Hogwarts Legacy 2 because players will be encouraged to invest in the game, frustrated by choppy progression. As a result, it is very likely that they “don’t want to go back”.

However, such a strategy has already been used for Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions and it proved to be very profitable for the Genshin Impact gacha, which generated no less than $944 million in 2023. The commercial tactic also works very well for Fortnite, Destiny 2, Apex Legends, League of Legends, CS:GO, and Helldivers 2, titles described as “popular not because they are free-to-play, but because “that they offer a unique experience”. Regarding Hogwarts Legacy, “what makes it unique is the fact that it is a single-player game, without microtransactions”.

This is not the first time that a petition has managed to be heard by a more or less large audience: a European petition “Stop the destruction of video games”, signed by almost 400,000 people, intends to force publishers to games to maintain a “playable” state of the titles they sell to consumers. This shows that popular initiatives can have a real impact on both the industry and legislation.