J.K. Rowling sparked the Hogwarts Legacy universe in Wizarding World. You can read more about Rowling's history of transphobic remarks as well as resources to help LGBTQ organizations here.
The train to Hogwarts has nearly halted at Platform 9 3/4, but some people are unsure when they are supposed to board. Fortunately, the publishers have provided a handy checklist to assist anxious players in making sense of their tickets (and the game's bizarre release schedule).
Because of several business decisions, current-gen versions of Hogwarts Legacy will basically ship with two different release dates: on February 10, everyone who buys the game physically or pre-orders the Deluxe Edition will get to play 72 hours early. But when can gamers actually start playing on those days? Professor Trelawney will not need to know.
The different ports are linked to different release times, according to the official Hogwarts Legacy Twitter account. The console versions will launch at midnight in each time zone, with the exception of PST. PST players will be able to play Hogwarts Legacy at 9 pm on February 9th (the lucky muggles), while the PC version will launch worldwide at 10 am PST/1 pm EST.
Of course, console gamers may always utilize the famous "New Zealand trick" to play the game early. Due to how the global time system interacted with Hogwarts Legacy's release schedule, players who set their console's location to New Zealand will be able to play the game nearly a day before anyone else.
Here are a few handy release dates to aid you in figuring out the whole thing.
All the above release dates apply to digital pre-orders, as is usually the case. Gamers who ordered physical copies will either have to wait for them to arrive in the mail (sorry, don't expect an owl to deliver them) or will have to visit their local store. Also, Early Access only applies to the digital version.
Everybody who pre-ordered Hogwarts Legacy digitally will want to know when they can start installing the game, especially those with slow internet, because the game requires around 85 GB of hard drive space (give or take depending on the platform). Those who haven't already downloaded the Deluxe Edition will have to wait until 72 hours before their respective release dates (e.g., Deluxe Edition owners will have to pre-load the game on February 5).
The following is all you need to know about the Hogwarts Legacy's different start times.