Harry Potter AR game coming from Pokémon Go's Niantic Labs (Update: Teaser trailer)

Update, November 14, 2018 (12:40PM EST): Niantic Labs released a short teaser trailer for the upcoming Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. Even though the trailer is devoid of any gameplay, at least it reminds us that the game is still in development.

Unfortunately, we will have to wait a bit longer to play Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. The same teaser trailer revealed that the game has been pushed back to sometime in 2019, with Niantic Labs and Portkey Games keeping mum on when exactly Harry Potter: Wizards Unite will be available.

Update, November 8, 2017 (2:22PM EST): Niantic Labs has now confirmed that Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is in development, while also giving us a few more details about what will happen in the game. The company says players will learn spells and explore the real world to discover and fight legendary beasts and team up with others to take down powerful enemies.

Original post: The magical world of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books and movies is going to invade our world in 2018. A new report says that Niantic Labs, the creators of the hit mobile AR game Pokémon Go, are currently developing a new AR game called Harry Potter: Wizards Unite for a launch sometime next year.

According to TechCrunch, the game will be co-developed by Warner Bros. Interactive and its new sub-brand Portkey Games. However, details for Harry Potter: Wizards Unite are few and far between at this point. The article speculates that the Harry Potter game might share some gameplay elements and features from Niantic’s first mobile AR title, the scifi-themed Ingress. In that game, players explore the real world with their smartphones and defend certain locations while collecting power-ups.

It’s easy to see such a game being translated to one that would work in the Harry Potter franchise. Players could take on the roles of wizards who learn new spells and have to battle other players in real world locations. Niantic certainly has a ton of experience in this area, and that, combined with the popularity of the Harry Potter franchise, could be as much of a game changer for the mobile AR industry as Pokémon Go was in 2016.

What do you think about the early reveal of Harry Potter: Wizards Unite? Would this be the kind of game you would play with your phone in the outside world?