The New Zealand Time Zone Trick Explained

Ever heard of the New Zealand Time Zone Trick? It's a handy hack gamers can use for their PlayStation and Xbox consoles to let them play the year's best games earlier than they would be able to in their original time zone.  The latest iteration of the trend popped up with the launch of "Hogwarts Legacy," which had different release dates (and times) depending on the system and region. 

According to the New Zealand.com tourism page, "New Zealand is one of the first places in the world to see the new day" because it's "12 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time)." In short, it's the first major time zone to hit midnight, which is ideal for impatient gamers waiting for a midnight drop for their region.

The New Zealand Time Zone Trick has been a gamer tradition that's endured throughout the years. One YouTuber demonstrated how he used the New Zealand Time Zone Trick for Xbox to play "Elden Ring" early. It will likely always be relevant for the next big game. So, how do you take advantage of it?

Xbox owners look like they win this battle in the console war. PlayStation users will have a harder time making the New Zealand Time Zone Trick work because they need to create an entirely new PlayStation Network account with New Zealand set as the time zone. Even then, you might not be able to play "Hogwarts Legacy" and other games without re-buying them for your separate account. 

Meanwhile, all Xbox users have to do to use the New Zealand Time Zone Trick is change their time zone on their already existing account to New Zealand. Boot up your Xbox console and go to the "System" section. Then, open "Settings" and go to the "Language & location" section, where you should see a drop-down for changing your time zone to New Zealand. Hit "Restart" and you should be good to go.