Footage of the new Harry Potter Quidditch game briefly appears online before being pulled by Warner Bros

Gameplay footage said to be from Quidditch Champions has recently appeared on Reddit before being hastily pulled from the site for legal reasons.

Announced just last month, Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions is a multiplayer game centred around the popular broom-based sport from the books. Play-tests began just days after the game's unveiling, and now footage from those pre-release play sessions has seemingly made its way online.

Several videos were posted on the Quidditch Champions subreddit over the weekend, which appeared to show character customisation and practice flying from the upcoming game as well as footage from an actual Quidditch game. Of course, we don't know if they are legitimate, but the fact that they've been "removed by Reddit's Legal Operations team", likely at the request of Warner Bros, suggests that they could be the real deal.

Those that did see the footage before it was scrubbed from the site have been having their say, and some, like user rschiff012852 are impressed with how the game's shaping up so far: "Hoping a Hogwarts Legacy DLC / sequel has quidditch like this, looks pretty good," they said in the comments.

Many others have drawn similarities between Quidditch Champions and Rocket League, Psyonix's insanely popular sports game that mixes soccer with tiny rocket-powered cars. "This is Rocket League!" wrote one user. "Kinda looks like Rocket League in the sky," replied another.

While Warner Bros is likely hoping that Quidditch Champions fills that Golden Snitch-shaped hole in fans' hearts after the flying sport was notably absent from Hogwarts Legacy, some fans are decidedly miffed and see the game as merely cut content.

The release of Hogwarts Legacy has been the subject of criticism and debate due to J.K. Rowling's public stance on gender identity, which continues to challenge the inclusivity at the heart of the Harry Potter community. Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions is in a similar situation and may spark similar discussion. That being said, here is our explainer on the Hogwarts Legacy controversy.