New job postings from Hogwarts Legacy developer have some wondering if the next game will include multiplayer options. Now, given how WB Games has a less-than-stellar track record of transforming successful single-player franchises (look at you, Arkham) into flops (choke… choke Suicide Squad), it’s understandable how fans of Hogwarts Legacy would be concerned at the mention of any multiplayer plans for the next game, but perhaps all is not yet lost.
According to Game Rant, Avalanche Studios is looking to hire a Senior Software Engineer. The details that have increased speculation and fears are the need for applicants to be able to give technical support for “player data persistence, matchmaking, lobbies, and server infrastructure”. These types of requirements are normally needed for MMO titles, but that might not be the case for the next game.
Now, before HP fans begin reaching for wands and potions to do battle in anger, let’s remember that the franchise has plenty of opportunity to introduce multiplayer elements without turning the game into yet another MMO cash grab disaster. The most obvious is Quidditch matches. This is something many had wanted to be included in the first game and hoped would have been patched in by now, but that never happened. The next thing to remember is that throughout the books and as seen in the movies, there are plenty of instances, or could be thought of as missions, when two, three, or more characters worked together (like Ron, Hermione, and HP never shared screentime), so Avalanche could conceivably create missions where multiple players could team up to finish. Lastly, and this is a bit of a stretch, don’t forget about classroom competitions. Players could compete in specific classroom activities to level up or gain abilities.
However, yes, the nightmare could come to pass that Hogwarts Legacy 2 could become a live game service, free-to-play, and buy as much as you can, basically a lifeless shell of the first game. Afterall it wouldn’t be the first, or last, time execs in a boardroom signed off to quest for the ultimate, effortless, MMO game. Yes, they are sometimes successful, but it doesn’t take much searching on the internet to know fans of the first game are hoping to see its original single-player gameplay continued and not scrapped for an online version. It’s also been suggested that this new job posting might be for a standalone online game, which could be the better strategy for all, from players to the game publisher, if it allows the sequel game to continue from the path begun by the first.