Hogwarts Legacy Free Download Announced, Just Not for Everyone

Millions of gamers will be able to play Hogwarts Legacy for free today, but there is one major catch.

Originally released in February 2023, developed by Avalanche Software, Hogwarts Legacy instantly became the Harry Potter game that fans had been waiting years for.

Hogwarts Legacy initially released on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, before arriving on last-gen platforms, as well as both Nintendo Switch consoles later on.

Upon its release, Hogwarts Legacy garnered a respectable score of 84 on the aggregate website, Metacritic.

Set during the 1890s, long before the popular Harry Potter novels and movies, as well as Fantastic Beasts, Hogwarts Legacy is a non-canon prequel story of a student who enrols in the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry during the fifth academic year, to the surprise of many.

Nearly three years have passed, and now fans are eagerly waiting for news on a sequel. While its publisher, Warner Bros. Games, has teased that it could be inspired by the upcoming HBO reboot, there’s not much else we know about Hogwarts Legacy 2.

If you’ve not yet played Hogwarts Legacy, now could be a perfect time. Well, that’s as long as you're a subscriber to a specific Xbox Game Pass tier.

Today, Microsoft announced details on the newly revised Xbox Game Pass subscription service, which has seen a whopping 50% price hike. However, while I never welcome paying more, it does come with new perks and features.

Included in the revised Ultimate tier are over 400 games, and amongst them is Hogwarts Legacy, but it’s not included in the Essential or Premium tiers. Some of the other perks of the Ultimate tier are Fortnite Crew, an opportunity to earn $100 reward points, and more.

If you do subscribe to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, you can play Hogwarts Legacy on PC and Xbox, as well as on the go with its cloud streaming, which is kinda cool, to be fair.

How well Hogwarts Legacy will perform on the go with a mobile device will all depend on the quality of your wi-fi or 5G connection. Just don’t attempt to play it while in an underground station, and you should be ok.

You can, of course, pick up Hogwarts Legacy the traditional way, by purchasing it outright, and you might be pleased to know that it’s currently included in PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium.

Hogwarts Legacy is out now on PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch.