Earlier this week, Niantic announced that it had acquired the rights to produce a game set in the Harry Potter universe. While there is bound to be plenty of people who are excited at the prospect of adventuring in J.K. Rowling’s famous world, there were some concerns that Niantic would abandon Pokémon Go in favor of Harry Potter: Wizards Unite.
After all, as popular as Pokémon GO is, the game still has plenty of issues that Niantic needs to address and fans of the game were worried that the company would abandon them in favor of a shiny new IP. However, Niantic has recently released a statement promising that development on Pokémon GO would not be harmed by Wizards Unite.
“Just like many of you, we’re super excited about Harry Potter: Wizards Unite and are working hard with our partners at Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, and WB Games San Francisco’s development team to bring that to life,” the statement reads. However, we — the Pokémon GO development team — want to say that we are 100% committed to creating an ever-changing and growing game that gets our players exploring, meeting each other, and deepening their connection to the Pokémon universe. We’re actively expanding the Pokémon GO development team to build many more amazing features in 2018.”
This year saw several new features come to Pokémon GO, including raids and legendary Pokémon, but neither of those features have been without criticism from fans.
Wizards Unite is the first Harry Potter video game we’ve seen in some time. The most recent entry in the series was a tie-in to the Deathly Hallows movie and a game in the LEGO series. Both of those games were released in 2011. The release of a new play and movie set in the world of Harry Potter seems to have rekindled interest in the franchise, and Warner Brothers Interactive has announced a renewed focus on Harry Potter-related video games.
United under the label of Portkey Games, the new line of Harry Potter games will include mobile and console games though Wizards Unite remains the only confirmed title.
“The games will vary from mobile to console games, and will feature both new characters and — excitingly — could feature familiar characters ‘at different points in their lives’ from the Harry Potter stories,” the company said.
