[When I first saw the news that Avalanche, best known for "Mad Max" and "Just Cause," was producing the Harry Potter RPG "Hogwarts Legacy" (open in new tab), I was a bit confused. I was a bit confused because it seemed like the studio best known for "Mad Max" and "Just Cause" had really taken a step sideways.

Avalanche Studios (open in new tab) When I hear the name Avalanche, I think of the Swedish developer that released its first game, "Just Cause," in 2006. Since then, they have released "theHunter" in 2009, "Just Cause 2" in 2010, "Mad Max" and "Just Cause 3" in 2015, "Just Cause 4" in 2018, and "Rage 2" in collaboration with id Software in 2019.

Avalanche Studios is also part of the Avalanche Studios Group (opens in new tab), which was founded in March 2020 and encompasses Avalanche Studios, Expansive Worlds and Systemic Reaction. None of them are related to the Potter stuff: Systemic Reaction is currently working on the online FPS "Second Extinction" (opens in new tab), while Expansive World's most recent project is "Call of the Wild: The Angler" (opens in new open in new tab).

Meanwhile, "Hogwarts Legacy" is being developed by a completely different Avalanche. Avalanche Software (open in new tab), located in Salt Lake City, Utah, is actually an older company: it was founded in 1995 and has worked on various console ports, including "Mortal Kombat 3", "NFL Blitz 2000", and "Prince of Persia 3D". Hogwarts Legacy", and "Prince of Persia 3D". His biggest project before "Hogwarts Legacy" was "Disney Infinity," a "toy-meets-reality" game series that did not catch on as well as Disney had hoped.

Avalanche Software has a rather violent history for something like this: it was acquired by Buena Vista Games, a spin-off of Disney Interactive, in 2005, and in 2007 Disney renamed Buena Vista Disney Interactive Studios and closed in 2016 with the end of the Disney Infinity series. That was the end of Avalanche Software until 2017, when Warner Bros. bought the studio and reopened it. Ironically, the first game after its resurrection was the Disney-licensed game Cars 3: Driven to Win.

Despite the fact that Avalanche Software is technically the more established and experienced developer, Avalanche Studios is more prominent in gamers' consciousness. Hogwarts Legacy is Avalanche Software's first non-Disney game since the 2006 third-person shooter 25 to Life. Hogwarts Legacy is Avalanche Software's first non-Disney game since the 2006 release of 25 to Life

. Hogwarts Legacy is developed by Avalanche Software, not Avalanche Studios, and will be released on January 10.