Hogwarts Legacy won’t include quidditch

Upcoming Harry Potter RPG Hogwarts Legacy won’t feature quidditch, but will still let you fly around on a broomstick.

The fictional fantasy sport has been a staple of the Harry Potter franchise since the first novel, and fans have been eagerly waiting to see whether it would appear in Hogwarts Legacy. A new FAQ post (opens in new tab) on the game’s website confirms players won’t get to try their hand at the sport when the game releases next year.

“Quidditch is not playable in Hogwarts Legacy,” the FAQ page says. “However, broom flight for traversal and broom race challenges are part of the game. Players can also fly brooms to explore new and familiar locations surrounding Hogwarts Castle.”

A big ask

Quidditch has long been a fan-favorite part of the Harry Potter universe, even inspiring a real-life sport that imitates the magical game. It featured heavily in the original novels and film series and appeared in some of the older Harry Potter video games from the last few decades.

But its omission from Hogwarts Legacy isn’t too surprising. Recreating an entire fictional sport within an already large RPG is a tall order. Between designing all the additional gameplay mechanics, creating unique animations, producing new dialogue, passing it all through quality assurance testers, and then finding a way to integrate it into the main game without having it feel like a tacked-on aside, adding quidditch would be no quick job.

Not that you’ll be totally broomless in the final game. Pitched as an open-world RPG, Hogwarts Legacy will have you exploring the titular wizarding school, the nearby village of Hogsmeade, and the Forbidden Forest. Gameplay snippets (opens in new tab) have already shown that you’ll be able to tour those locales on the back of a flying hippogriff or a magical broomstick.

It’s possible, although not confirmed, that larger expansions for the game will be released after launch. Developer Avalanche has also created several DLC cosmetic packs as pre-order bonuses. Given the popularity of quidditch among Harry Potter fans, and its strong association with the brand, we wouldn’t be surprised if the fictional sport was added in some form through post-launch DLC.

Hogwarts Legacy will release on February 10 on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC. But if quidditch isn’t turning up, don’t expect wizard chess to appear either.