It looks like PS4 and Xbox One owners won't be able to Aveda Kedavra their way all across the Wizarding World on April 4. According to Avalanche Software, Hogwarts Legacy isn't coming to last-gen consoles on April 4 as initially planned. Instead, it will arrive on May 5 as the studio is "working hard to deliver the best possible experience on all platforms."
Despite all the controversies, Hogwarts Legacy came out on February 10 on the PS5, Xbox Series S/X and the PC to much critical acclaim and commercial success. However, one thing was obvious from the game's initial launch - it's a graphically taxing game that last-gen consoles will struggle to run.
By delaying Hogwarts Legacy on the PS4 and the Xbox One, Avalanche inadvertently confirmed everyone's fears about the game.
@xfire.com Hogwarts Legacy release date on the PS4 and Xbox One delayed #hogwartslegacy #hogwartslegacynews #hogwartslegacyupdate #fyp #foryou
Both of the outgoing consoles have punched well above their weights in recent years as the COVID-19 pandemic and the chip shortage forced developers to realign their plans. We can only presume that Sony intended to kill the PS4 way earlier, probably right around the same time Microsoft put the Xbox One to pasture.
Some games have even dropped support for the last-gen consoles mid-development, which just goes to show that Avalanche has a real dilemma on its hands.
Unfortunately, it's too late for the studio to drop support for the PS4 and Xbox One for Hogwarts Legacy. We're curious to find out what kind of magic it will work out to make it work just as well on the last-gen consoles as it has on current-gen consoles.
Maybe Avalanche will drop a whole ton of Felix Felicis, otherwise known as Liquid Luck, into the PS4 and Xbox One versions of Hogwarts Legacy and pray that it works.
Kidding aside, the delay of Hogwarts Legacy on the PS4 and Xbox One suggests that the Nintendo Switch version will not come out on July 25 as well.
Regardless, all of this extra work to make Hogwarts Legacy run on older consoles will likely eat up the developer's resources and prevent them from working on DLC for the game. If it's any consolation, more Hogwarts Legacy titles have effectively been confirmed.
