''Harry Potter: Wizards Unite'' was an

augmented reality Augmented reality (AR) is an interactive experience that combines the real world and computer-generated content. The content can span multiple sensory Modality (human–computer interaction), modalities, including visual, Hearing, auditory, hap ...

(AR)

mobile game A mobile game, or smartphone game, is a video game that is typically played on a mobile phone. The term also refers to all games that are played on any portable device, including from mobile phone (feature phone or smartphone), tablet, PDA t ...

developed by

Niantic Niantic may refer to: * Niantic people, tribe of American Indians * Niantic, Inc., mobile app developer known for the mobile games ''Ingress'' and ''Pokémon Go'' Ships * ''Niantic'' (whaling vessel), relic of San Francisco Gold Rush *USS ''Nian ...

and

WB Games San Francisco Warner Bros. Games (formerly Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment) is an American video game publisher based in Burbank, California, and part of the Global Streaming and Interactive Entertainment unit of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). The pu ...

, and published by Niantic, under license from

Portkey Games Portkey Games is a video game label owned by Warner Bros. Games founded in 2017 and dedicated to creating gaming experiences related to the Wizarding World. Overview Portkey Games first announced their first game in 2017, working with '' Pok� ...

. The game is based on the ''

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young wizard, Harry Potter, and his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, all of whom are students a ...

Wizarding World The Wizarding World (previously known as J. K. Rowling's Wizarding World) is a fantasy media franchise and shared fictional universe centred on the ''Harry Potter'' novel series by J. K. Rowling. A series of films have been in production si ...

media franchise, created by

J. K. Rowling Joanne Rowling ( "rolling"; born 31 July 1965), also known by her pen name J. K. Rowling, is a British author and philanthropist. She wrote ''Harry Potter'', a seven-volume children's fantasy series published from 1997 to 2007. The ser ...

. It was launched for

Android Android may refer to: Science and technology * Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system ** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...

and

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...

mobile devices on June 20, 2019. A

beta version A software release life cycle is the sum of the stages of development and maturity for a piece of computer software ranging from its initial development to its eventual release, and including updated versions of the released version to help impr ...

was released in New Zealand in April 2019, and in Australia in May 2019. On November 2, 2021, Portkey Games announced the closure of game, which happened at 12:01 a.m. EST on January 31, 2022.

Overview

''Harry Potter: Wizards Unite'' was announced on November 8, 2017, as an augmented reality mobile game developed by

and

. Players are able to visit real-world locations while casting spells, discovering mysterious artefacts, and encountering iconic characters and legendary beasts from the ''

'' universe. With Niantic's purchase of Escher Reality, the game was expected to implement new technology to allow for

persistent world A persistent world or persistent state world (PSW) is a virtual world which, by the definition by Richard Bartle, "continues to exist and develop internally even when there are no people interacting with it". The first virtual worlds were text-ba ...

s within AR. On November 14, 2018, it was confirmed that the game would be released in 2019.

Gameplay

''Harry Potter: Wizards Unite'' gameplay has been described as similar to that of ''

Pokémon Go ''Pokémon Go'' (stylized as ''Pokémon GO'') is a 2016 augmented reality (AR) mobile game, part of the ''Pokémon'' franchise, developed and published by Niantic in collaboration with Nintendo and The Pokémon Company for iOS and Android ...

'', with players able to view the gameplay world through a smartphone. The game allows players to fight against mythical beasts from the ''Harry Potter'' and ''

Fantastic Beasts ''Fantastic Beasts'' is a film series directed by David Yates, and a spin-off prequel to the ''Harry Potter'' novel and film series. The series is distributed by Warner Bros. and consists of three fantasy films as of 2022, beginning with ''F ...

'' franchise. Players may choose their wizarding house, their wand, and their

profession A profession is a field of Work (human activity), work that has been successfully ''professionalized''. It can be defined as a disciplined group of individuals, ''Professional, professionals'', who adhere to ethical standards and who hold the ...

: either Professor, Auror or Magizoologist. After creating a game account, the player makes an

avatar Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appeara ...

, whose location depends on the device's geographical location. The player then travels around the real world to find "confounded"

items Item may refer to: Organizations * '' Instituto del Tercer Mundo'' (ITeM), the Third World Institute * ITEM club, an economic forecasting group based in the United Kingdom Newspapers * '' The Item'', an American independent, morning newspap ...

and creatures, and "unconfound" them. The player can also stop at inns (to replenish spell energy), greenhouses (to gain potion ingredients and grow new ingredients), and fortresses (to fight dark wizards and beasts). As the player moves within their real-world surroundings, their avatar moves within the game's map. In April 2020, ''Wizards Unite'' introduced the Knight Bus which allows players to participate in magical challenges in virtual fortresses regardless of their physical location, an answer to the worldwide

lockdowns A lockdown is a restriction policy for people, community or a country to stay where they are, usually due to specific risks (such as COVID-19) that could possibly harm the people if they move and interact freely. The term is used for a prison ...

during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

Release

A first gameplay video for the game was released in March 2019, showing footage defending from a

dementor Magical creatures are an aspect of the fictional Wizarding World contained in the ''Harry Potter'' series and connected media, all created by British author J. K. Rowling. Throughout the seven main books of the series, Harry Potter (character), ...

, and being attacked by a

werewolf In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (; ; uk, Вовкулака, Vovkulaka), is an individual that can shapeshift into a wolf (or, especially in modern film, a therianthropic hybrid wolf-like creature), either purposel ...

. On March 11, 2019, pre-registration on

Google Play Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store and formerly the Android Market, is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certified devices running on the Android (operating sys ...

opened for the app as well as new in-game footage was released by Niantic. On April 17, 2019, the game was

beta release A software release life cycle is the sum of the stages of development and maturity for a piece of computer software ranging from its initial development to its eventual release, and including updated versions of the released version to help impro ...

d in New Zealand. On April 24, 2019, an email was sent in error stating that the game would launch in Australia for beta testing. On April 26, 2019, the game launched in Australia for beta testing. But several hours later, Niantic confirmed it was another mistake and it was taken down from the

App Store An App Store (or app marketplace) is a type of digital distribution platform for computer software called applications, often in a mobile context. Apps provide a specific set of functions which, by definition, do not include the running of the co ...

. The game was re-released in Australia on May 2, 2019. The game was released in the United States and the United Kingdom on June 20, 2019, a day earlier than previously announced, with additional countries expected to gain access in the days ahead.

Reception

Awards

The game won the People's Voice Award for "Technical Achievement" and was named as an Honoree for "Best Game Design" at the

2020 Webby Awards The 2020 Webby Awards ceremony was posted online on May 19, 2020, and was hosted by Patton Oswalt. Named Webbys From Home, it recognized the best of Internet content. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the award ceremony was held virtually at the organi ...

, whereas its other nomination was for "Family & Kids".

Revenue

The game generated over US$12 million in revenue in its first month of release. The game's total revenue was estimated at US$37 million by May 2021, with 20 million downloads.

References

External links

* {{Niantic 2019 video games Android (operating system) games Augmented reality games Delisted digital-only games Free-to-play video games Harry Potter video games IOS games Location-based games Niantic, Inc. games Multiplayer and single-player video games Products and services discontinued in 2022 Vertically-oriented video games Video games developed in the United States