Niantic and WB Games have announced that Harry Potter: Wizards Unite will be shutting down on January 31, 2022.
In a blog post, Niantic announced that starting on December 6, 2021, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite will be removed from the App Store, Google Play, and Galaxy Store before support ends completely the following January.
“When we launched Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, our vision was to allow players to experience the wizarding world right in their real-world surroundings as they stepped outside and explored their neighborhoods,” the developers said in a blog post.
As Niantic sunsets Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, there will be some final gameplay tweaks added including increased rewards, reduced brew times, and more XP. Niantic also revealed some final events for Wizards Unite taking place in the final three months of operation.
Like Pokemon Go, Wizard Unite required players to interact with the real world through their smartphones. Players could encounter magical creatures to fight, choose a Hogwarts house and wand, and craft potions, or partake in other activities.
But while Pokemon Go has been a worldwide hit, Wizards Unite doesn’t appear to have hit the same heights. According to numbers provided by Sensor Tower, Harry Potter: Wizard generated close to $40 million from player spending. By comparison, Pokemon Go has accumulated nearly $5.5 billion over its lifespan and generated almost $1.1 billion this year alone.
While Wizard Unite will not be around much longer, Niantic announced it is deepening its partnership with Nintendo to create more games based on their iconic franchises. Niantic and Nintendo recently released Pikmin Bloom, a health-focused take on Nintendo’s nature strategy series.
Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.
No comments:
Post a Comment