Upcoming Harry Potter RPG Hogwarts Legacy will release on Nintendo Switch, despite the platform not being mentioned during the recent gameplay reveal.
As spotted by Nintendo Everything, the official Hogwarts Legacy website FAQ section lists Nintendo Switch among the platforms that the game will be available on, while the bottom of the website shows a Switch icon alongside PlayStation, Xbox and PC icons.
In addition, Amazon is listing pre-orders (which are now sold out) for a physical version of Hogwarts Legacy on Switch - suggesting this will be a fully-fledged version of the game rather than simply a cloud version.
When Hogwarts Legacy was first announced back in 2020, it was confirmed that the Harry Potter RPG would be coming to PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PS4, Xbox One and PC, but there was no mention of a Nintendo Switch version. Even at the Sony State of Play showcase on March 17, where Hogwarts Legacy was revealed properly for the first time, there was no mention of the game coming to Switch. Although, as a PlayStation-focused show, that's not entirely surprising.
Opinion: it'll take magic to make it good
While a Nintendo Switch version of Hogwarts Legacy is good news, I can't help but be surprised that the Harry Potter RPG is coming to Nintendo's console.
Hogwarts Legacy's gameplay reveal introduced us to a richly detailed and, frankly, gorgeous take on the Harry Potter universe. The build we saw in the State of Play showcase was running on PS5, so we were seeing the game at its current-gen best. The question is, with so much going on on-screen, will the Nintendo Switch be able to capture that magic? I'm worried the PS4 and Xbox One will be able to cope, let alone the Nintendo Switch.
There's almost no way that Hogwarts Legacy will look the same on Switch as it did in the PS5 gameplay, but it's likely it won't perform as well either. Creating a game across generations isn't an easy task, and Hogwarts Legacy doesn't seem to be pulling any punches when it comes to utilizing the PS5's power - we saw combat between multiple enemies and tons of spells (and special effects) whizzing past the camera, then there's the ability to fly around Hogwarts on the back of a broom, demanding significant draw distances from the console.
All this means the developer could run into performance issues developing Hogwarts Legacy for the less powerful Switch. I certainly don't expect the experience to be the same as it will be on the latest hardware.
I'm hoping Avalanche takes the time and care Hogwarts Legacy on Switch needs, but only time will tell if the game on Switch is as spellbinding as its PS5 counterpart appears to be.
