Social media has been blowing up over Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. Wizarding enthusiasts have taken to the streets with phones in hand for the new augmented reality game from Niantic, the minds behind Pokemon Go. With the remarkable success of Pokemon Go with both users and revenue, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite had a lot to live up to. As of now, it hasn’t come close to obtaining the levels of success that its predecessor continues to enjoy.
During its launch weekend from June 20 to June 23, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite made $1.1 million and saw 3 million players join the wizarding fray. By comparison, Pokemon Go earned $28 million in its first four days and hit 24 million installs in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand alone. Despite crashes and server issues at launch, Pokemon Go has dominated.
If there was any franchise that could hope to capture the success of Pokemon Go, it would be Harry Potter. As of 2017, the Harry Potter franchise as a whole is worth a staggering $25 billion, taking into account the books, movies, games, merchandise, theme parks, and so on. Looking to follow up on the success of Pokemon Go, it was a logical choice for Niantic to bring Harry Potter into a new aspect of the real world. However, as of now, players seem to prefer Pokemon to wizardry.
It is worth noting that Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is not yet available in the major markets of Japan and South Korea. Once launched there, it is sure to enjoy a boost in revenue and player count. That aside, the mobile game is still on track to generate $10 million in player spending in its first month. By any measure, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is a huge success. The expectations built up from Pokemon Go are the only things making the game look like a statistical disappointment.
