Hogwarts Legacy's average player count has dropped by a whopping 47.44% in the last month, with its peak concurrent players on Steam in the last 24 hours sitting at around 98,833 compared to the 527,652 players it had at launch. This may be surprising to some considering just how successful Hogwarts Legacy has been since launch, but it makes sense when considering what kind of game the new Harry Potter action-RPG actually is.
Hogwarts Legacy debuted to massive sales success, breaking records and quickly becoming the best-selling game of 2023 so far. Hogwarts Legacy also enjoyed mostly positive reviews from critics and even managed to crack some Twitch viewership records. By nearly all metrics, Hogwarts Legacy has been a huge hit for the industry, though some fans may be wondering how the game's concurrent player count has dropped so dramatically since launch.
The thing is, Hogwarts Legacy is a single-player game, which means most people play it when they get it and then move on to other things. It is not a live service game like Call of Duty or Fortnite and has no multiplayer component to keep players engaged with it for the long-term. It's designed for people to complete it and then move on to other things, and there is certainly nothing wrong with that approach. In fact, many people would prefer games have a definitive end instead of being dragged out so they can play more things instead of sticking with the same game forever.
Because Hogwarts Legacy is purely a single-player game, it's really no surprise that its concurrent player count has dropped so much since launch. In fact, fans can expect it to drop more in the weeks ahead, though there will be opportunities for the game to rise back up through the Steam charts. For example, a price drop on Hogwarts Legacy will almost certainly see the game get a big concurrent player boost. Additionally, if Hogwarts Legacy ever gets a DLC expansion, it's a safe bet that many will return to the game to see what that's about as well.
It should also be pointed out that this isn't telling the whole story - this data only applies to the Steam version of Hogwarts Legacy. It's entirely possible that the game's concurrent player counts on Xbox and PlayStation haven't dropped nearly as much. Alternatively, they may have dropped even more. In any case, console versions of the game should also get a big boost in players later in the year, as the last gen versions of Hogwarts Legacy haven't even released yet, let alone the Switch port.
Regardless of its concurrent player counts, there's no denying that Hogwarts Legacy is one of the biggest games of the year. There's even a good chance Hogwarts Legacy may be the best-selling game of 2023 by the time it's all said and done, but that remains to be seen.
Hogwarts Legacy is out now for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X.
Source: Steam Charts