‘Harry Potter: Wizards Unite’ to Launch This Week

By Janko Roettgers

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – “Pokemon Go” maker Niantic is getting ready to launch its next big game: “Harry Potter: Wizards Unite” is set to launch in June 21, the company revealed in a tweet this week.

The tweet said that fans should keep their “eyes peeled and wand ready for more information” as the game goes live in their region, suggesting that may be planning a staggered roll-out across the world.

“” has been developed by Warner Bros. games in partnership with Niantic, and uses Niantic’s real-world platform to combine location-based gaming with augmented reality (AR). The game tasks players to find magical places around them, collect special artifacts and fight death eaters and other creatures from the Harry Potter universe.

The game uses many of the same mechanics as “Pokemon Go,” but also embraces some of the latest in mobile AR. For encounters with magical creatures, the game opens in AR mode, and allows players to cast spells by tracing swipes on their screen.

Niantic first previewed the game to a small group of journalists in San Francisco in March , and began testing it in Australia and New Zealand last month.