Harry Potter Wizards Unite
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'Harry Potter: Wizards Unite' is shutting down on January 31st, 2022
Another Niantic AR game is about to bite the dust.
Niantic buys a 3D mapping startup to enable 'planet-scale' AR
As much as Niantic might be focused on making its location-based games more playable at home, it's also thinking about its future. The developer has bought 3D mapping startup 6D.ai to help it develop "planet-scale" augmented reality. The relative newcomer's work on 3D environment reconstruction and persistent AR objects promises more sophisticated experiences than you're used to in the past. Niantic teased the prospect of seeing creature habitats in Pokémon Go, or dragons landing on buildings.
Niantic is doing more to help 'Pokémon Go' gamers play at home
Niantic isn't done making it easier to play its location-based games while you're staying home during the COVID-19 pandemic. The developer has outlined some of its future plans for titles like Pokémon Go, Ingress and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, and it's quite clear that you won't have to step outside to make progress during the outbreak. Adventure Sync will better support indoor activities (say, running on a treadmill). Pokémon Go Raid Battles will be playable at home. Social features will help you keep in touch with players you can't see in person, and there are even plans to help you "virtually visit" real-world locations.
Niantic announces real-world events for its Pokémon and Harry Potter games
Niantic's real-world events for 2019 were so successful that they generated $249 million in tourism revenue across Chicago, Dortmund and Montréal. That's what the company has revealed in a new events website, which it launched alongside its festival lineup for 2020. Niantic has several events in store for Pokémon Go, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite and Ingress players across the globe in the coming months.
‘Harry Potter: Wizards Unite’ gathered location data while users slept
It's no secret that games like Harry Potter: Wizards Unite and Pokémon Go track their users' locations. But it can be alarming to see just how much data companies like Niantic have. As part of an extensive report on how tech companies are mapping the world, Kotaku revealed that Niantic's Wizards Unite, in particular, gathered a surprising amount of data.
'Harry Potter: Wizards Unite' will track activity without running the app
Pokémon Go players have had the luxury of syncing their activity tracking with the game, but not Harry Potter: Wizards Unite fans. If you've wanted to unlock Portmanteaus or otherwise complete distance-based goals, you've had to keep the app running and kill your battery in the process. You might not have to put up with that for much longer, thankfully. Niantic has reportedly been emailing users promising that Adventure Sync is "coming soon" to Wizards Unite, letting players tie activity from their phone's fitness tracking to accomplishments in the game.
Join the first ‘Harry Potter: Wizards Unite’ community day tomorrow
Harry Potter: Wizards Unite has been out for one month, and makers Ninantic and WB Games are ready to kick things up a notch. Tomorrow, they're launching the game's first community day. Similar to the way community days worked in Pokémon Go, tomorrow's event is meant to bring users together and will offer in-game bonuses -- like a chance to earn three-times Wizard XP when you down Baruffio Brain Elixir.
'Harry Potter: Wizards Unite' rolls out to 25 more countries
If you were disappointed at being left out of the initial Harry Potter: Wizards Unite launch, don't worry -- there's a good chance you can play now. Niantic's augmented reality sorcery is now available on Android and iOS in 25 more countries. This includes Canada and Mexico in the Americas as well as several European and Scandinavian countries, including France, Ireland, Germany, Norway and Sweden. You can also expect to play in a handful of other places around the world, such as India, Indonesia and the Philippines.
'Harry Potter: Wizards Unite' is available to play a day early
Niantic's Harry Potter: Wizards Unite officially debuts on June 21st, but you won't have to wait until then to play if you live in the right country. The location-based game is already available for would-be Android and iOS spellcasters in the US and UK -- not surprisingly, Niantic is welcoming early adopters in a likely effort to minimize Pokémon Go-style server overloads. Australia and New Zealand have had the game for weeks in a pseudo-beta test, but Niantic is clearly expecting the broader launch to be particularly demanding.
'Harry Potter: Wizards Unite' worldwide launch begins on June 21st
You'll be able to save Muggles from rogue magical creatures and misbehaving objects very soon: Niantic will finally start rolling out Harry Potter: Wizards Unite on June 21st. The company has announced the much-awaited mobile game's launch date outside Universal Studios' Wizarding World, telling attendees that it plans to hold events for it similar to Pokémon Go Fests. While the game will only come out in the US and the UK on Friday, it's just the beginning of its worldwide launch. Niantic plans to make it available in more regions in the future and promises to release more info when it goes live in other locations.
