The last Harry Potter book was published over 10 years ago but that hasn’t stopped the grip Potter Fever has had on our lives.
Fans of the series still flock to Potter World, buy up tickets to the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and make their own Harry Potter adventures in Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery.
The latest Harry Potter hype you need to know about? An augmented reality (AR) game, named Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, from the makers of Pokémon Go, Niantic.
Initially revealed last year, Niantic said at the time: "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."
Things have been pretty quiet since then, until the company released a teaser trailer of the game last night, which is slated for a 2019 release.
The trailer shows a young girl capturing a snitch and conjuring up a poster on a wall which reads: “The Wizarding World is at risk of exposure. We need your help,” before she disappears.
You can “enlist” to help protect the Wizarding world at HarryPotterWizardsUnite.com. According to the site, The Ministry of Magic is looking for witches and wizards to save the wizarding world from the Calamity.
As part of this mission, Niantic say gamers will learn spells, explore their real neighbourhoods and cities to discover and fight legendary beasts. There's also going to be some team action involved, as you will be able to join up with other players to take down enemies.
It sounds like there is going to be more of a plot to the Harry Potter AR game compared to Pokemon Go, which encouraged people to catch different Pokémon out in the wild, using their smartphones.
If anyone is going to make a successful Harry Potter AR game, it’s going to be Niantic. A year after it released Pokemon Go, there was still 65 million people playing every month.
The company held a Pokemon Go fest in Chicago this year which saw 20,000 players gather to catch mythical Pokemon across the city.
Given the huge fan base Harry Potter still commands, there are going to be a lot of high expectations for Harry Potter: Wizards Unite.
Get your wands ready for 2019.
