New Harry Potter game accused of 'milking money from players'

The new Harry Potter Quidditch game has been accused of ‘milking money from players’.

On 18 April 2023, Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions was announced and it’s fair to say that it wasn’t overwhelmingly received. Despite knowing next to nothing about the game, many players were disgruntled that this wasn’t included as a mode or even post-launch DLC for Hogwarts Legacy.

What’s more, we’ve only seen a CGI trailer so far, featuring no gameplay. All we know for sure is that it’s being developed by Unbroken Studios, a team that has aided Rocksteady Studios with the development of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.

Furthermore, we also know that it will be a standalone competitive multiplayer game with some form of character customisation and it will be coming to PC, and consoles.

According to a blog post on the Wizarding World website, Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions: “engages players in the sport of Quidditch and other broomstick adventures alongside friends in a competitive setting”. Apparently, the game has also been in development for “several years”.

However, despite Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions being somewhat of a mystery at this point, that hasn't stopped fans from accusing it of ‘milking money from players’. Also, it’s not even been released yet, so it can’t take our money.

Reddit user ishouldvoicemario has leapt to the defence of Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions stating that it is not a cash cow to milk fans. “Quidditch Champions is NOT “milking” money from players,” they said, before ranting in quite a lengthy post.

“A new Quidditch game is announced and what does the fan base do? Cynically complain that they only want more money out of us,” exclaimed the Redditor.

They continued: “I personally would much rather pay full price for a well-developed stand-alone Quidditch title than play a half-assed version in Legacy.

“This is good news. As of this year, we have a foundation for Hogwarts open-world action RPGs, and now news of a possible strong foundation for Quidditch games. This has been a great year for Harry Potter fans.”

Much of the Reddit thread had mixed opinions with a lot of valid points. “It’ll depend on the quality for me. If it’s slapped together rushed buggy garbage then they’re definitely milking the player base,” said FruitParfait.

ArdenCallaway made a point that could be associated with any form of commercial media. “Every product created in this franchise by WB is designed to make money down to the very first movie in 2001,” they said. “That doesn’t mean it can’t also be good and fun for us.”

It’s true, just about any product released for consumer consumption exists to make money, after all, it’s what businesses do. That being said, will Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions be a microtransaction fuelled game with an egregious grind or will it have a fair progression system? Only time will tell, but we’ll only know for sure when the game eventually releases.