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Yes, Hogwarts Legacy Steam preload is possible – here’s how

Hogwarts Legacy Steam preload is in fact possible, contrary to prior statements, meaning you can prepare the Harry Potter RPG game on Valve's store right now.

How to play Hogwarts Legacy early PC: a young wizarding student sparks a spell in a cauldron

So it turns out Hogwarts Legacy Steam preload is in fact possible. Developer Avalanche previously stated that preloading the Harry Potter RPG game would not be possible, but as the Hogwarts Legacy early access period arrives, it turns out you can actually preload it, as of right now. Here’s how to play Hogwarts Legacy early on Steam.

On February 4, Hogwarts Legacy’s Twitter account confirmed that preloading the open-world game on PC would not be possible. However, plans seem to have completely changed, as the game’s Twitter now says that all PC players can preload Hogwarts Legacy on Steam as of today, February 7. If you’re thinking about picking up the sandbox game, check out our Hogwarts Legacy review.

Hogwarts Legacy early access begins on February 7 at 10am PST / 1pm EST / 6pm GMT / 7pm CEST for PC players, with the game’s full global launch following on February 10.

Whether you’re an early access player or waiting for the full release, if you go onto Steam right now, you should see an option for preloading. If it’s not there, you simply need to close and restart the Steam client, and that should give you the prompt. This means you can start exploring the Hogwarts Legacy map, and building up all those vital Hogwarts Legacy talents much earlier than expected.

“To all PC Players of Hogwarts Legacy, preloading is now available on Steam,” says the Hogwarts Legacy Twitter. “This will be available for those playing during the early access period and global launch. If you are not seeing the update please restart the Steam client.”

Hogwarts Legacy is also due to launch via the Epic Games Store, though no official comment has been given yet regarding preloading the game on that platform.

Check out all the Hogwarts Legacy characters so you know who you’ll be exploring and spell-casting alongside. You’ll also want to know all the Hogwarts Legacy spells, to give yourself the best chance in battle, and Hogwarts Legacy potions, to help recover after a long day of studying.

The creator of the Harry Potter series, JK Rowling, has made a number of transphobic remarks on social media in recent years. Warner Bros. has the licence to make games based on Harry Potter. While the details of that deal aren’t publicly known, and WB Games says “J.K. Rowling is not directly involved in the creation of the game”, it is likely that, as the creator and owner of the Harry Potter IP, she will earn royalties from its sales. If you’d like to learn more about transgender equality or lend your support, here are two important charities we encourage you to check out: the National Center for Transgender Equality in the US, and Mermaids in the UK.