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“Harry Potter: Wizards Unite” was one of Niantic’s augmented reality games launched after the massive success of “Pokémon GO.” Unfortunately, Potterheads only have a few months left to play the game, as the developer confirmed it will be shut down in early 2022.
The AR game based on the popular book and movie franchise features a story that is somehow connected to the canon plot. It follows the events of the Battle of Hogwarts narrated in “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” where the three main protagonists Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley, have all become members of the Ministry of Magic. In Niantic’s official statement, the video game company suggests the completion of the story introduced in the AR game is one of the reasons “Harry Potter: Wizards Unite” is closing.
“Not all games are meant to last forever,” Niantic said. “Our goal with Harry Potter: Wizards Unite was to bring the magic of the wizarding world to life for millions of players as they stepped outside and explored their neighborhoods. We accomplished that together, delivering a two-year narrative story arc that will soon complete.”
However, there might also be another reason. In the same statement, it appears that Niantic plans on focusing on its other ongoing AR game projects. Niantic noted that it has nine games and apps in the works, and some of them will have their soft launch next year.
“We’ll take all of the learnings from Harry Potter: Wizards Unite into our other projects,” Niantic added. The developer also told fans that they can continue to enjoy AR gaming technology with its other IPs, including “Pikmin Bloom” and “Transformers: Heavy Metal.”
In a blog post on the official “Harry Potter: Wizards Unite” website, the developers announced that the AR game would be removed from the App Store, Play Store, and Galaxy Store on Dec. 6. So “Harry Potter” fans still have until the said date to download the game.
Fans who were able to install the game before Dec. 6 will be able to continue playing “Harry Potter: Wizards Unite” until it closes on Jan. 31, 2022. From then, even those who have installed the game will be unable to access it.
