New Harry Potter Game Has Everyone Saying The Same Thing
Since the official death of E3, Summer Game Fest has become a go-to place for game developers and publishers to make big reveals. Despite host Geoff Keighley attempting to downplay expectations ahead of this year's festival, the festival's opening night still yielded some exciting announcements. One of the biggest drops at this year's festival was a new trailer for the upcoming game from Unbroken Studios, "Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions."
The trailer is a little light on details, but the main points are clear: Players will get to try their hands at the Wizarding World's favorite sport, as well as hang out with a few of the core characters from "Harry Potter" along the way. The game lets players choose their position on the team, and it naturally includes a multiplayer mode. On September 3, the game debuts on Xbox, PC, Switch, Steam, the Epic Games Stores and PlayStation, while PlayStation Plus subscribers getting free access until September 30.
It's hard to believe that it's taken over 20 years for someone to create another Quidditch game, but maybe not everyone's childhood was marked by a deep passion for "Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup." Warner Bros. Games is clearly looking to build on the success of "Hogwarts Legacy," but considering most people felt like Quidditch was a glaring omission from that game, this latest title may feel like a hard sale. Of course, that's not the only hurdle between gamers and this title. Judging by the reactions "Quidditch Champions" is getting online, Warner Bros. might need to prepare for a mixed reception.
The world says ... meh
Anything with ties to "Harry Potter" is bound to get some attention (good or bad), and "Quidditch Champions" isn't exactly being met by excitement. Even the applause from the live audience at Summer Game Fest was tepid. A number of people are upset at the idea of "Harry Potter" creator J.K. Rowling making more money from the franchise, particularly in light of her controversial comments criticizing the transgender community. Others are frustrated by problems much more rooted in the gaming experience itself. For one, fans are immediately jumping to the conclusion that Quidditch was cut from "Hogwarts Legacy" as a way to encourage people to buy "Quidditch Champions." The fact that "Hogwarts Legacy" players are going to get bonuses from purchasing this game only makes the two feel more annoying connected for some.
They announced the Quidditch Champions game—the reason why HL did not have quidditch in-game.
I was always planning to get it. But here's what truly cracked me up watching the trailer. Like, I laughed so hard.
Enjoy.#QuidditchChampions pic.twitter.com/krQeSKl7MV
— ✨ Celestina Warlock ✨ (@celestina_1875) June 7, 2024
That may not be true, but plenty of people are going to have a hard time agreeing to pay for what they view as being a missing minigame from "Legacy." Even people who aren't commenting on the game's relationship to "Legacy" are unfavorably comparing it to "FIFA" and mobile games. Others are pointing to "Quidditch Champions" as an example of why the gaming industry as a whole is in trouble right now.
it feels like the era of crappy licensed games has returned purely because it's some of the only reliable work you can get now in the industry https://t.co/qCttWmii4e
— 🍧🍦andrewthemandrew(X-Men era is back)💜💚 (@andrewthemandr6) June 7, 2024
Of course, this is our first real look at "Quidditch Champions" since its initial reveal teaser, so it's hard to judge its quality based on what we've seen. The game isn't off to a promising start — prompting some of the same inescapable worries as "Hogwarts Legacy" — but there's always some potential for that to turn around in the coming months as we learn more.