The maker of Pokemon Go Niantic Inc. has revealed that it is working on a Harry Potter-themed game, in which players would find and fight fantasy beasts in real-world neighbourhoods in the smartphone game.
The previous game by the company Pokemon Go had about 45 million daily players at its peak and generated more than $1.2bn (£915m) in sales. And as per the experts even the Harry Potter brand had the potential for similar success.
Warner Bros Interactive owns the video game rights to the Harry Potter series. It has previously developed Lego-branded tie-in titles via its TT Games subsidiary as well partnering with Electronic Arts to create action-adventures that launched alongside the movies.
Warner said Niantic’s Harry Potter: Wizards Unite was just one of several new games based on JK Rowling’s characters that are planned. They will all be released under a new label – Portkey Games. The name has been finalized just because Portkeys transport wizards from place to place in the books.
It was augmented reality which made the game Pokemon Go viral, in which real-world views captured via a camera are mixed together with computer graphics on the screen.
There are just a few details have been provided at this point about the forthcoming game, except that it will involve players learning spells before exploring their neighbourhoods to search for mysterious artifacts and fight beasts with the option to team up with others to take down powerful enemies.
The game will be introduced next year. This new game will have benefits of enhanced augmented reality features provided by Apple and Google via their ARKit and ARCore developer tools, which were not available when Pokemon Go introduced.
In reality, many of Pokemon Go’s remaining fans play it with its AR features switched off because it makes the game easier to play and helps save battery life.
It is assumed that the Harry Potter augmented reality experiences will be more robust and complex than they were in Pokemon Go. This time it will be more dynamic and the experience more engaging.
Let’s see what new we can experience this time and will people go crazy for this one too as the previous one!
