Pokemon Go Developer Gives Release Window for New Harry Potter Game

Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is scheduled to come out in the second half of 2018.

During an interview with ft.com, Niantic CEO John Hanke revealed that their upcoming augmented reality game set in the world of Harry Potter would be coming out in the second half of this year. Hanke spoke about Niantic’s plans for 2018, including a planned release of Pokemon Go in China and the rollout of their newest game.

Hanke also assured fans that Harry Potter: Wizards Unite would have a much smoother release than Pokemon Go, which was plagued by server issues and tons of bad press during its release in 2018. Hanke said that his company was “much better positioned” for Harry Potter: Wizards Unite and also noted they had learned a lot from launching Pokemon Go.

“In terms of dealing with public locations, government policy, regulations and public reaction to people being out in the real world, we have built up our expertise there,” Hanke noted. He expects that Niantic will be able to respond to real-world problems much more quickly than they did in 2016 during Pokemon Go‘s heyday.

Hanke reiterated that the Harry Potter franchise synced up nicely with augmented reality technology, which uses real world locations and a phone’s camera to simulate gameplay in the real world. “The ‘muggle’ world and the wizarding world are only separated by this thin veil,” Hanke said. “It’s very easy for us to imagine bringing that kind of magic into our everyday lives.” Hanke also noted that not every franchise fit well with AR gameplay and referenced the Star Wars franchise as an example.