Hogwarts Legacy surpassed all expectations after selling over 40 million copies since its release back in 2023.
It’s brought its developer, Avalanche Software, a lot of success, and the studio is already hard at work on a sequel. It’s believed to be titled Hogwarts Legacy 2, but until it’s officially revealed, we can’t know for sure.
However, recent job listings at Avalanche Software paint quite a troubling picture, confirming fears that the studio’s next game will lack what made Hogwarts Legacy so magical in the first place.
Hogwarts Legacy’s Successor To Be Ruined By Multiplayer And Live-Service
Following Hogwarts Legacy’s success, the team at Avalanche Software has the opportunity to expand, and is seizing that opportunity with both hands.
The studio is currently on the lookout for new members of the team to assist it in creating an “Online RPG”, which is believed to be separate from Hogwarts Legacy 2.
The post teased, “We are in the early days. The ambiguity is high, but so is the potential impact.”
Now this could be one of two things: a Hogwarts Legacy spin-off or an entirely new project separate from the Harry Potter IP.
If it’s the former, Avalanche Software could be taking a similar approach to Rockstar Games with the Grand Theft Auto series.
Warner Bros Games
Grand Theft Auto V featured both a single-player story mode and, of course, Grand Theft Auto: Online, the latter eventually breaking free of the single-player portion and essentially becoming its own standalone game.
That could be what’s happening here. Hogwarts Legacy 2 will be a single-player experience that follows on from the first game’s story, but features an online mode that players can play separately.
What’s worrying about all of this is how it’ll be executed.
Sticking with the GTA: Online example, the multiplayer game is fun but not without its drawbacks. For starters, it took away any chance of the single-player story getting DLC, as all resources were allocated to Online despite players being very vocal about wanting story expansions.
The biggest problem, though are the microtransactions, and that’s exactly where Hogwarts Legacy 2 could fall short if it wants to experiment with multiplayer.
Imagine the fallout of players having to buy robes, wands, spells and mounts, all while the open-world remains untouched by the latest updates. It’d be a mess.
Hopefully, Avalanche Software’s latest job advert is for a project entirely separate from any Hogwarts Legacy sequels and spin-offs, but the money-making potential of an online multiplayer focus is there, and will no doubt be a driving factor in what happens with the series next.