Maker Of ‘Pokemon Go’ Releasing A ‘Harry Potter’ Augmented Reality Video Game Next

Harry Potter: Wizards Unite

Niantic / Warner Bros.


Chances are you haven’t thought much about Pokemon Go in about a year but there’s no denying that it was a complete global phenomenon when the game was first released. Niantic, the maker of Pokemon Go, had people running around parks all across the globe trying to catch pocket monsters.

Niantic made an estimated $1 BILLION off of Pokemon Go in 2016, and they certainly made hundreds of millions in 2017 even though interest had waned. This morning, Niantic announced their next project and it’s almost certain to make another billion dollars (and then some). On their company blog, Niantic Labs announced Harry Potter: Wizards Unite will be their next augmented reality (AR) video game:

We’re incredibly excited to announce this next step in the evolution of AR mobile entertainment. With Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, players that have been dreaming of becoming real life Wizards will finally get the chance to experience J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World. Players will learn spells, explore their real world neighborhoods and cities to discover & fight legendary beasts and team up with others to take down powerful enemies. We’re thrilled to partner with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, and WB Games San Francisco’s development team to bring this magical and beloved series to life in a brand new way. Harry Potter: Wizards Unite will leverage the full stack of the Niantic Platform while also providing an opportunity to pioneer all new technology and gameplay mechanics. (via)

The Harry Potter movies grossed over $7.7 billion worldwide. J.K. Rowling is the world’s first author to be worth over $1 billion. There are multiple Harry Potter theme parks and video games already out there. I’m not shocked it took the world of Harry Potter this long to embrace Augmented Reality but I’m glad to see it happening because Niantic Labs have a proven track record with Pokemon Go.

This game won’t be 100% Niantic Labs, it’s being co-developed by Niantic and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment under the Portkey Games Label, according to Rolling Stone. There’s already a website set up for Harry Potter: Wizards Unite where you can sign up to receive details about the game as they’re made available. There’s also already Facebook and Twitter pages in place if you want to go like/follow those.