The launch of the Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is good, but not up there with Pokémon GO.
Last week saw the launch of Pokémon GO developer Niantic’s latest game, the Augmented reality title Harry Potter: Wizards Unite based on JK Rowling’s famous franchise. However, according to market analysts Sensor Tower, the game’s first day has seen a much slower start compared to Pokémon GO.
The new game works very similar to that of GO, where location data is used to mark where you are, and based on this, you can use spells and have battles with the beasts from both the Harry Potter and the Mythical Beasts franchises. Selection and enhancing your profession, creating potions and completing challenges similar to that of its Pokémon counterpart, while also using the player’s camera capabilities to use the AR features are all part of the game.
The game launched in New Zealand first and then Australia in April before the full release of the game worldwide took place last week, with many eager Harry Potter fans ready for their wizarding adventure.
However, Sensor Tower calculated that while installs and revenue were impressive, with over 400,000 downloads on day one across the US and the UK, and already $300,000 of consumer spending over both the Apple and Google Play stores. It pales in comparison to the 7.2m downloads for Pokémon GO in the same period, and that was just from those in the US, with around $2 million in revenue.
While the franchises within the Harry Potter universe are popular, it should come as no surprise compared to Pokémon GO. Nintendo backed Pokémon GO with their own marketing campaign that generated a lot of hype around its release. WB Games have been advertising the game, but not to the extent of Nintendo around Pokemon GO. However, as the game begins to see more traction around social media for the game, we expect the current number to rise consistently.
