Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory.
Today we’re going to be discussing Hogwarts Legacy and DLC - which stands for ‘downloadable
content’.
In other words, expansions, add-ons, upgrades- whatever you want to call it.
We’re going to be tackling the important questions like:
-Is it happening?
-When is it happening?
-What type of DLC can we expect?
The first thing that I want to address is a quote from Alan Tew - Lead Game Designer
at Warner Bros Interactive- which has been circulating around the internet.
In this quote, Alan discusses the future of the game and his thoughts on the current state
of DLC.
The quote was made at the IGN Fan Fest:
“We’ve been really heads down bringing Hogwarts Legacy to life, so at the moment
there are no current plans for DLC.”
Unfortunately the internet ran with this a little too quickly, as his statement invariably
sparked the creation of thousands of videos and articles in which the respective authors
so proudly titled their new piece of content ‘No DLC for Hogwarts Legacy EVER’.
This is simply not the case.
Tew merely said there are no plans for DLC at the moment, and this is completely fair
if we consider the infancy of the game.
This absolutely does NOT mean that we will never receive DLC, that just wouldn’t make
any sense whatsoever.
Around 10-20 million copies of the game have already been sold this year alone, and the
game is still only just rolling out.
At this point, only the diehards have bought and beaten it, casual fans are just starting
to get their hands on it, and the rest of the market (who I’m sure will catch on)
will eventually be enticed by the game regardless of whether or not they’re a huge Harry Potter
fan.
But the internet does thrive on drama and clickbait, so this is to be expected.
A response to trending tweets surrounding a lack of DLC was fulfilled by Paul Tassi,
who made the following remark:
“A better way to frame Alan's response to the DLC question, is to remember that we've
only launched on half of our SKUs so far.
There are people out there who still don't have a game in their hands yet, and we don't
want to short-change those folks.”
This is a much healthier and more productive way to look at Tew’s statement, and it’s
completely true.
The game is brand new and hasn’t even rolled out on all platforms yet, why would there
be DLC already?
Personally, I think we’ll get some DLC towards the end of this year / beginning of next year,
but that’s just my opinion.
A big factor to consider as well is the SCALE of the DLC.
But most importantly, try to remember that DLC will MOST LIKELY happen, and that most
of these articles spouting off about ‘No DLC ever’ are just trying to get your click.
With all of that said, however, what I want to focus on next is the WHAT.
What type of DLC can we expect?
Hogwarts Legacy has uniquely set itself up to seamlessly introduce a lot of different
aspects of the wizarding world, from the micro of Hogwarts to the macro of the greater wizarding
world.
Obviously with no announcements for DLC, this is all speculation, but here’s what I’D
like to see, starting with the biggest.
Quidditch
The biggest lost opportunity of Hogwarts Legacy is the extremely apparent lack of Quidditch.
There’s a Quidditch pitch, we can fly a broom, and the game is an integral part of
Harry Potter lore.
Since Hogwarts Legacy has inspired a new generation of Harry Potter fans that may or may not know
the intricacies of Quidditch, let me briefly summarize:
Quidditch is a team sport played by witches and wizards on broomsticks, and involves four
balls: a Quaffle, two Bludgers, and a Golden Snitch.
A game of Quidditch is played with seven players on each team, and each player has a specific
position and role.
The objective of the game is to score points by throwing the Quaffle through one of the
opposing team's three hoops, while simultaneously defending your own team's hoops from the other
team.
The two Bludgers are used to disrupt the players and throw them off course.
The game ends when the Golden Snitch, a small, fast-moving ball with wings, is caught by
one of the players.
The team that catches the Snitch earns 150 points and ends the game.
Given that there’s a Quidditch Pitch already developed on the Hogwarts Grounds, this seems
like an obvious and inevitable piece of DLC.
Triwizard Tournament
The Triwizard Tournament is a magical competition held between three wizarding schools, Hogwarts
School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, and Durmstrang Institute.
In this tournament one champion is chosen to represent each school and compete in three
dangerous tasks, with the winner receiving a grand prize.
These tasks test the skills, bravery, and intelligence of the chosen champions from
each school.
The tasks are kept secret until the day of the tournament, and the winner is awarded
the Triwizard Cup and eternal glory.
Given that Hogwarts is a participant in the fabled Triwizard tournament, it seems obvious
that the Triwizard tournament would be included as DLC.
The problem with this?
Well, it’d break canon.
The reason I say this is because the Triwizard tournament was discontinued after 1792, taking
a 200 year hiatus before being resurrected in 1994.
A triwizard tournament in 1890 just wouldn’t make sense, and given that the game has done
such a good job of preserving canon so far, I’m not completely convinced that this will
become available.
Other Schools
The possibility for Hogwarts Legacy developers to include other schools seems, to me, fairly
likely.
I say this because other schools ARE mentioned in the game, and developers would be able
to capitalize on an area of lore where it would be much harder to contradict canon.
We don’t know too much about the other wizarding schools, and so this sort of DLC would give
them a lot of freedom.
And when I say ‘other’ schools, I am of course referring to the long list of OTHER
wizarding schools across the globe, not just the one’s from the Triwizard tournament.
These schools include:
Ilvermorny - North America Mahoutokoro - Japan
Castelobruxo - Brazil Uagadou - Africa
Durmstrang - Northern Europe Beauxbatons - France
& Koldovstoretz - Russia
If you want more info on these schools then check out my video ‘The History of Every
MAGIC School in the Wizarding World (All 11) - Harry Potter Explained’
Bigger World
The wizarding world of Harry Potter is vast, and so I’d very much like them to expand
the explorable areas.
If it was mentioned or shown in the books and/or films, then I’d like the ability
to go there.
Little Hangleton, Privet Drive, the Ministry of Magic - these are all places I’d like
to be able to openly explore.
The Rest
In addition to the above ‘larger’ pieces of DLC, I’d also like to see the following
smaller things implemented either through DLC or patches.
These things include:
-Subsequent school years, year 6/7 -Interactive NPC’s
-Craftable Polyjuice Potion -Higher Max Levels
-More Talents -More Side/Companion Quests
-Consequences for using Dark magic (wizarding LAW implemented)
-Consequences for being underage and entering the Forbidden Forest
-The ability to become an Animagus -Time turner / time manipulation
-Enhanced morality system -More spell variety
-Wizarding careers &
-The ability to cast a Patronus.
Among other things.
Of course, bearing all of the above pieces of potential DLC in mind, I think I can safely
say that, among all potential new features, multiplayer would probably have the biggest
impact.
Multiplayer mods are in development by independent developers, but as of now, Portkey games / Avalanche
Software have not mentioned anything.
At the end of the day, it’s still early days for Hogwarts Legacy, and given the massive
popularity of the game thus far, I’m sure the possibility of DLC is extremely high.
And that’s it for this video!
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What DLC do YOU want to see?
Comment down below.
Until next time
Remember
It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live