Malcolm Owen
Niantic and WB Games is expanding the availability of the wildly-popular 'Harry Potter: Wizards Unite," bringing the AR-based iOS game to 25 more countries around the world just one day after the title launched in just four major markets.
"Harry Potter: Wizards Unite" went live on Friday in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand, following a beta period in the latter two countries. Joining those four are another 25 countries, with players able to download the game from the App Store straight away.
The long-awaited launch in a limited number of countries is thought to be Niantic's attempt to limit how many players are in the game at the start, so as to not strain its infrastructure. Niantic's previous and similar title "Pokemon Go" rolled out at a far slower pace, with servers reaching capacity as the game went live in each region.
The latest countries to get the "Harry Potter" title are: Austria, Belgium, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Norway, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
The official website advises the game will roll out to more countries "soon."
"Harry Potter: Wizards Unite" puts players in the role of a protector of the secret wizarding world, tasked with covering up events of "The Calamity" from the non-magical "Muggles." Similar in concept to "Pokemon Go," players can walk around their local environment to collect items and to complete challenges, as well as to take part in multiplayer Wizarding Challenges.
Wesley Hilliard
AppleInsider Staff
Andrew Orr
Amber Neely
William Gallagher
1 Comment
The game went live and downloadable on Thursday. The game is not the same as Pokémon Go. Some of the stops are different. Also instead of walking around to hatch eggs, you walk around to activate port keys you have put a keys into. Once the port keys are activated, you are transported into 100% Harry Potter world to find things. The middle image isn’t how the port keys work, however I’m sure the image was provided. The stops are different types, Inns provide food for spell energy, Greenhouses you can pick plans and grow a plant if the single communal pot is open. Good luck finding an open pot to grow things though. Fortress are where you do Wizard Challenges, by yourself or as a group against the evil side. One annoying thing is the game keeps telling you that you are moving too fast, even if walking, so it asks you if you’re a passenger. This seems to be if you close your phone while walking. You can download assets to reduce cell usage, but that takes about 3.3GB.