'Harry Potter: Wizards Unite' Release Date Could Be Pushed Back To 2019

Niantic announced “Harry Potter: Wizards Unite” in November and the developer said that it will be released sometime this year. However, it looks like the game’s release could be possibly pushed back to 2019.

The last time that Niantic gave an update on the release date of “Harry Potter: Wizards Unite” was back in January when the company’s CEO, John Hanke, told The Financial Times [paywalled] that the game would be out during the second half of 2018.

This week, Eurogamer was able to ask Hanke if this was still the case. “We’ll see,” Hanke said when asked if “Wizards Unite” will arrive this year. “We want to release it when the game's ready. We want to avoid death march where the game releases on a specific date no matter what. So we'll be trying to leave some room there. We'll do some testing at the end and depending on how people enjoy the game and if we find bugs or problems, we'll give ourselves a window to do that before final release.”

When Hanke was asked if the game could possibly be released next year, he didn’t give a comment and allegedly said “hmhmmm.” If that’s anything to go by, there seems to be a possibility that “Wizards Unite” might actually be delayed to 2019. It’s already more than halfway through the year and Niantic and publisher Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment still haven’t given any details on actual gameplay or a specific release date.

Instead of pressing on the issue, Eurogamer asked Hanke if it was possible for “Harry Potter: Wizards Unite” to have an impact on “Pokémon Go.” The CEO said that they haven’t really thought about that. He added that he believes there are enough “Harry Potter” fans worldwide and the new game won’t have to take players away from “Pokémon Go” in order to be successful.

“Harry Potter: Wizards Unite” is expected to be another game from Niantic that will use the same augmented reality technology that powers “Pokémon Go.” Specifics on how it will be integrated in the upcoming “Harry Potter” game have not been revealed, but Niantic will indeed use what it has learned from “Pokémon Go” while also exploring new ways to play.

“What you can expect is something that draws on ‘Pokémon Go’ in terms of what worked about that game,” Hanke told the BBC in an interview last week. “It will be a game where you go outside, you are drawn to new places and you play together with your friends. But we’re also using it as a place to explore new gameplay mechanics and new technology.”