A Harry Potter MMO was in the works, but EA doubted the brand’s future

Electronic Arts owned the rights to the Harry Potter films until the release of the two-part Deathly Hallows. After that, the license reverted to Warner Bros., the same way it did with The Lord of the Rings. One of the planned projects, however, never came into existence. The fans of the young wizard would be able to roam the magical world in a huge MMO that EA decided to cancel. Kim Salzer, former product marketing director, has revealed that the company didn’t trust the future of the license, in the mid-term.

In a stream with The Real Brandolorian, Salzer has delved into the motives of this decision. “a big one for me, because I was so personally involved in it and it’s such a huge IP that has lived on”, she commented. “We did all the research and beta built out, it was a combination of offline/online experience, where we mailed to the kids prizes, ribbons and stuff like that”.

Salzer notes that after the market research, confidence in the success was high. “But it was killed, for lack of a better term, because EA was going through some changes at that time and they just didn’t know, or believe enough, that that IP would have a shelf life longer than a year or two.”

Hogwarts Legacy, the new entry in the series

It’s been a decade since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 premiered at cinemas and video games, but the saga continues to develop in new film and electronic entertainment products. An example of this is Hogwarts Legacy. In this upcoming adventure RPG developed by Avalanche, we will be able to play the role of a young wizard through their journey at the school of witchcraft and Wizardry,

Hogwarts Legacy has no release date, although the studio has promised that new details will be unveiled in 2022. The game is in development for Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PS4, PS5, and PC.

Source | VGC, The Real Brandolorian