Hogwarts Legacysmashed sales records and became 2023’s best-selling game by quite a significant margin—something that seems obvious in hindsight, considering the ubiquity of its source material. Despite the controversial statements fromWarner Bros. about wanting to move away from single-player gamesand double-down on live-services,Hogwarts Legacyseems to succeed in spite of its lack of multiplayer, or perhaps even because of it.
This doesn’t mean that the ship has sailed on multiplayer features in theHogwarts Legacyfranchise. After all, if Warner Bros. is looking to the live-service model for greater profits and longevity, then it would make a lot of sense, for better or worse, to add online functionality to a future entry.Hogwarts Legacy 2, when it eventually comes out, will almost certainly sell like hotcakes regardless of its overall quality, but poorly implemented multiplayer options could dilute the strengths established by the first game. Thus, a more deft touch may be warranted.
Hogwarts Legacy 2 Can Look to Animal Crossing for Subtle Multiplayer Features
Animal Crossing’s Dream Islands System Could Work for Hogwarts Legacy 2’s Room of Requirement
InAnimal Crossing: New Horizons, the player can be visited by Luna, a spectral entity, while they sleep. This opens the door to Dream Islands, digital copies of other players' islands that can be visited without the need to interact with the hosts or add them to one’s friend list. Players can either search for specific islands through a Dream Address, or be transported to a random one. While visiting a Dream Island, the player cannot interact with the island’s owner, nor can they make any changes to its layout, item composition, et cetera.
It’s not hard to imagine a version of this appearing inHogwarts Legacy, specifically pertaining to the Room of Requirement. Through the Room of Requirement,Hogwarts Legacyis injected with a healthy dose of “cozy game” energy, as the Room is a venue for creative expression, low-stakes customization, and resource-gathering via activities like potion-brewing and gardening. The unfortunate thing about the Room of Requirement is that the player’s hard work can never be shared with others. It’s not like other cozy games likeAnimal Crossingor evenStardew Valley, wherein players can show off their personalized worlds through co-op features.
But if players could visit each other’s Rooms of Requirement,Hogwarts Legacy 2’s personalization systemswould be far more rewarding. Maybe the game could even feature something like a guest book, allowing players to leave short reviews of the Rooms they visit. Implementing this through something likeAnimal Crossing’s Dream Islands feature would make the system less intrusive and immersion-breaking, as players wouldn’t actually be interacting with each other, just visiting immutable versions of their personal spaces.
The Potential Downside of Hogwarts Legacy 2 Adopting a ‘Dream Islands’ System
To be frank, if Warner Bros. is planning on being bullish about future live-service ventures, it isn’t because the company believes such experiences are what gamers are asking for; Warner Bros. and other major companies publishing live-service games are doing so because they are seeking theprofits associated with the likes ofFortnite. Player enjoyment is necessary for profit generation, but it’s a means to an end.
IfHogwarts Legacy 2were to implement any sort of multiplayer functionality, there’s a good chance it would be monetized in some way. How this could be reflected in the proposed Dream Island system (or any RoR-visiting feature) is through paid cosmetics. “Premium” furniture and decor could be sold at an in-game store, preying on players' sense of FOMO and inferiority. Everyone would want the “best” Room of Requirement, so it would be easy to nudge them in the direction of microtransactions to meet this goal. Other Rooms of Requirement with premium decor would effectively become free advertising for these in-game purchases, making for a potentially predatory monetization scheme.
Hogwarts Legacy
WHERE TO PLAY
Hogwarts Legacy is an immersive, open-world action RPG set in the world first introduced in the Harry Potter books. For the first time, experience Hogwarts in the 1800s. Your character is a student who holds the key to an ancient secret that threatens to tear the wizarding world apart. Now you can take control of the action and be at the center of your own adventure in the wizarding world. Your legacy is what you make of it.Explore an Open WorldThe wizarding world awaits you. Freely roam Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, the Forbidden Forest, and the surrounding Overland area.Be the Witch or Wizard You Want to beLearn spells, brew potions, grow plants, and tend to magical beasts along your journey. Get sorted into your house, forge relationships, and master skills to become the witch or wizard you want to be Experience a New Wizarding World AdventureExperience the wizarding world in an unexplored era to uncover a hidden truth from its past. Battle against trolls, Dark Wizards, goblins, and more as you face a dangerous villain threatening the fate of the wizarding world.
