Niantic Labs, makers of the crazy-popular Pokémon GO app/game/new way of seeing the world, have confirmed that they are developing a similar augmented reality game, this time set in the wizarding world. While the forthcoming app is sadly not titled Potter GO, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite will undoubtedly be just as addictive as its predecessor. Imagine being like Harry on his first visit to Diagon Alley or Platform 9 3/4—discovering that behind ordinary bricks there lay an entire magical world. Thankfully, you won’t have to go running full-tilt at a brick wall to make that same discovery.
But here’s the most important question: What will you catch?
Office consensus is that there will most likely be some Nifflers, Bowtruckles, Thunderbirds, and more hiding in plain sight; depending which of J.K. Rowling’s books Niantic pulls from, there could also be thestrals, hippogriffs, and plenty more. And what about Horcruxes, or other magical artifacts? TechCrunch theorizes that, like Pokémon GO, Wizards Unite will build on data from the app Ingress, and incorporate real-world locations—something that worked great in Fantastic Beasts. The sky’s kind of the limit here.
Amusingly, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment’s brand-new games division is called Portkey Games It would be amazing if a Harry Potter game included portkeys, Floo powder, and other magical modes of transportation, but that’s likely much further down the line, once augmented reality becomes virtual reality.
Harry Potter: Wizards Unite has an expected release of sometime in 2018.
