Many people are complaining about the exact same bug. Hogwarts Legacy officially came out, but people still can’t get the production to work.
People are reporting en masse that Hogwarts Legacy cannot be turned on. Despite downloading and unzipping to disk, the game cannot be launched. The problem is global. One can start up Steam, turn it off, and restart the computer – nothing helps.
Some people manage with the help of setting the Beta version of Steam itself, but this does not seem to be the solution. Many people are thus stuck seeing the same message:
“The game has not been released yet. It will be unlocked and made available on the official release date.”
For some people it works, for others it doesn’t – there’s no rule here. It looks a bit like some got lucky and others didn’t. The only solution is to restart the game until it eventually works. It’s also worth going into the local files and checking, or rather verifying the integrity of the files.
It is also possible to run the game directly from the .exe file. You need to find the production in the library, then go to the cogwheel icon, then “Manage” -> “Browse local files”, in the installation folder select Harry Potter Hogwarts Legacy and “Run as administrator” with the right mouse button.
Hogwarts Legacy – unpacking for several hours
Players complain not only about the inability to launch but also about the fact that the production takes several hours to unpack. This is also a bug.
Hogwarts Legacy – error with account linking
Another bug seems to be a problem with linking the Warner Bros. account. The developers are working on a solution here. Fortunately, this can be completely bypassed.