After launching the Pokémon Go-like AR game Pikmin Bloom in some regions last week, developer Niantic has announced that it is shutting down another one of its AR games: Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. The announcement was made on the game's official website, which states that the game will be removed from the App Store, Google Play and Galaxy Store on December 6, 2021; and it will only be available to play till January 31, 2022.

"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," reads the announcement. "Over the years, millions of witches and wizards around the globe have embarked on real-world adventures, coming together to keep magic hidden safe within the wizarding world while joining forces to take on The Unforgivable. During this time, players have also worked alongside Hermione and Harry as part of the Statute of Secrecy Task Force to unravel the mystery behind the disappearance of the London Five and are now on the verge of putting an end to the Calamity."

While Harry Potter: Wizards Unite players won't be able to make in-game purchases as of December 6, some in-game events are planned for the coming months until the game is rendered unplayable as follows:

• November
  • Dolores Umbridge Lethal Adversaries Event
  • Half-Blood Prince Brilliant Event Part 1
  • Lucius Malfoy Lethal Adversaries Event
  • Half-Blood Prince Brilliant Event Part 2
• December
  • Bellatrix Lethal Adversaries Event
  • Horcrux Hunt Part 2
  • Voldemort Lethal Adversaries Event
  • Deathly Hallows Brilliant Event Part 1
  • Holiday Event
  • Deathly Hallows Brilliant Event Part 2
• January
  • We’ll share more details regarding additional game changes that’ll happen during the month of January.

To find more details, you can head to the source link below.

SOURCE

 

[SS4]

Well it was HP so no big loss there although its sad to see VR games go . . .

 

[Ericzander]

Some dude on Reddit explained it best. AR lends itself to Pokemon, and little else. The whole point of Pokemon is exploring and catching monsters in the wild, it naturally lends itself to real world exploration. Whereas Harry Potter is about going to public school. What part of the wizarding fantasy includes endless walking?

 

[ViDeOmAnCiNi]

The game only made $40MM since inception. Maybe that's not enough in the 21st century. lol

 

[Magsor]

It's always sad to see a game die. Niantic is totally to blame here. If it was made by someone else it might have been worth a look, but they totally still missed the mark on pokemon GO and it looks nowhere near a game that made BILLIONS in revenue. GREEDY people don't deserve anyones money.

 

[banjojohn]

Well it was HP so no big loss there although its sad to see VR games go . . .

It's AR, not VR...

 

[Jiehfeng]

What part of the wizarding fantasy includes endless walking?

Getting to the next class amongst the moving stairs.

 

[WicCaesar]

It's too complex and limiting. My inventory was always full, and expanding was expensive. It was awful to play, most of the time the collectibles would flee…

 

[Dr_Faustus]

I'm actually surprised it came out, I thought it was still in beta testing the last I heard. That said however it's Niantic, and they really never shook off that Google mentality they have towards things.

Who wants to bet the Pikmin Bloom game will be out for a shorter time before that gets shelved too? I guess it depends on the kind of money Nintendo is planning on throwing at them to keep the services running until it's considered too unprofitable to continue.

 

[InsaneNutter]

It's always sad to see a game die. Niantic is totally to blame here. If it was made by someone else it might have been worth a look, but they totally still missed the mark on pokemon GO and it looks nowhere near a game that made BILLIONS in revenue. GREEDY people don't deserve anyones money.

I don't personally think Niantic are to blame here. Warner Bros games have seen how successful Pokemon Go is and commissioned Niantic to do the same, however with Harry Potter, thinking their fanbase will just play anything because its Harry Potter branded.

In reality the concept just doesn't work with Harry Potter. Just like with the Transformers game Niantic developing, I personally don't see that appealing to the masses either.

Nintendo couldn't have made Pokemon Go in house and Niantic have done a great job of brining that alive with the tech & POI database they had developed for Ingress. As @Ericzander has pointed out however AR is a natural fit for Pokemon, anyone who grew up with Pokemon probably dreamed of going out in the real word catching Pokemon, now we can.

Pokemon in my opinion is a one hit wonder though, I can't ever see the success of Pokemon Go been replicated with other franchises.

 

[The Catboy]

All 2 users will be sad

 

[Kwyjor]

Hogwarts Mystery is still going strong, isn't it? Of course, that's an entirely different kind of game.

The other recent news was that Niantic is shutting down their Catan game that never left beta.

Anyone here still playing Ingress?

but they totally still missed the mark on pokemon GO and it looks nowhere near a game that made BILLIONS in revenue.

How the heck can you say they "totally missed the mark" while making billions in revenue..?

GREEDY people don't deserve anyones money.

So they should just be giving it away for free, then..?

 

[Patxinco]

It wasn't a surprise tbh.
Meanwhile here i'm hoping for a DQ Walk FULL global release (most of the stuff is geolocked outside Japan)
Could seriously compete with Pokemon Go imo.

 

[WicCaesar]

I'm actually surprised it came out, I thought it was still in beta testing the last I heard.

I think you confused Wizard Unite (out since 2019) with Hogwarts Legacy, which is still under development.

 

[osaka35]

Shame. They've certainly gotten around to fixing a handful of those 1st year bugs this year. Still a long way to go. Their development cycle seems to be more "produce content and features only, with exceptions for game-breaking bugs. all other bug fixes shall happen whenever we want to add additional content to that area of the game", which is...efficient? But incredibly infuriating.

 

[WicCaesar]

Anyone here still playing Ingress?

I love Ingress, it really, literally, changed my life. However, I've been banned on the day Pokémon GO was released because I messed with fake GPS (it was available only in Australia). I think they used the same API or it was running on the background, I don't know. They banned me on Ingress, but not on Pokémon. x___x

 

[MarkDarkness]

This existed?

 

[DinohScene]

TIL: there's a Harry Potter AR game.

 

[Pipistrele]

Wizards disband

 

[raxadian]

Yeah cause lockdown is not the best time for an AR game about a wizard people are getting tired of.