Can you preload Hogwarts Legacy on Steam?

After a lengthy wait and some delays, many players are already beginning their Hogwarts Legacy journey while others are immensely close to the game officially launching for them.

The game officially launches on Feb. 10, but those who purchased either the deluxe edition or the collector’s edition also get a three-day early access period. The official times that Hogwarts Legacy‘s early access period begins varies by region and platform, but players can also speed up the process by preloading the game ahead of time.

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Preloading a game means that players can download it ahead of time to immensely speed up the process of actually getting to play when it releases. It is a very helpful feature that many games now implement to allow players to jump into the action as soon as the game officially releases.

With a massive game like Hogwarts Legacy, the preload function is especially handy since the initial download is expected to take some time. Players understandably want to begin attending Hogwarts as soon as possible, so the question of whether they can preload Hogwarts Legacy will drastically affect how soon they can actually begin playing.

Can you preload Hogwarts Legacy on PC?

Regardless of which version of Hogwarts Legacy players purchased, the preload function is not available for Steam or PC in general. The preload function for Hogwarts Legacy is only available for console players that are boarding the Hogwarts Express on either the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X|S.

The lack of a preload function for PC has been a source of immense frustration among players who purchased the game on that platform. This combined with all of the other exclusive content that is only available to console players has made many PC players unhappy as they feel they paid the same for a lesser experience.

Because the preload function is unavailable on Steam, PC players that purchased Hogwarts Legacy on this platform will simply have to wait until their early access period officially begins to download the game. Considering that console players can preload ahead of time to begin playing as soon as the early access period begins, PC players’ frustration is certainly understandable since they will be spending some of their early access time installing the game instead of playing it while those on console will be able to begin playing almost immediately.