In the past few weeks (or even months), the space has been eagerly waiting for the release of Hogwarts Legacy. It’s been a very long time since the previous Harry Potter game came out (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011), and even that couldn’t come even close to the ambition (and budget) of Hogwarts Legacy.
However, it looks like some platforms will have access sooner than others, sort of.
No Pre-Load Available – Unfortunate Hogwarts Legacy PC Steam News
Despite the heavy backlash the team behind Hogwarts Legacy faced, they stood behind their decision to leave PC players hanging.
On the 4th of February, the studio’s support team tweeted that they will not enable pre-loading on either of the two PC platforms: Epic Games and Steam.
The game’s PC Early Access is scheduled to commence today (Feb. 7th) at 1 AM PST / 1 PM EST.
Seeing as preloading will not be allowed, those of us using these two platforms will not be able to play the game for quite a while after it’s released.
This may not seem that big of a deal, however, this reduces the time PC Deluxe Edition buyers will have to play through the game, putting them considerably behind console users who already have a 10+ hours lead because of earlier release time.
As unfair as that may seem, this is far from the first time the platform has been left behind by developers, even when it comes to huge releases such as this one. This happens for a number of reasons, but the biggest seems to be the hardware difference.
I’m sure game developers would love to avoid the metaphorical pitchforks and torches that come with releases. There are a plethora of bugs and errors that can happen with computer builds that are simply not present on consoles. Even if they do occur, they’re ironed out fairly quickly because consoles don’t change much once they’re released, and the hardware is always the same.
Whether you’re a console enjoyer or a PC one, we will all get our chance to explore the world of witchcraft and wizardry soon enough.
Fingers crossed for a stable launch!
ALSO READ: Anti-Rowling Activists Launch Website to Monitor Streamers Who Play Hogwarts Legacy
