Get excited, witches and wizards! Niantic has given us further information that Harry Potter: Wizards Unite will release by the end of 2018! Watch the video below for all the details, or keep reading.


Thanks to The Wizards Guide for sending me this article.

In an interview with the Polish magazine Gram, Anne Beuttenmüller, Niantic’s Head of Product Marketing in the EMEA region, shared the following about Wizards Unite. (Note: this quote is the Google Translate of the original):

We plan to release the game at the end of this year, but this is the only thing I can reveal at this moment.

This is certainly more information than John Hanke provided in his interview with Tom Phillips from Eurogamer. In that interview, Hanke gave noncommittal responses as to whether Wizards Unite would release in 2018 or 2019.

Related: Will Harry Potter: Wizards Unite Launch in 2019?

However, an end-of-2018 Wizards Unite release does line up with all other statements made by Hanke.

Harry Potter: Wizards Unite release date speculation

In April 2018, Hanke said Wizards Unite would launch in the second half of 2018.

A few weeks later, he further narrowed down this timeline during a conversation with Mike Schmid on a shared flight. Hanke said Wizards Unite will probably release “more by the end of the year,” because Niantic is “still working on some things.”

“End of this year” could easily refer to November 2018. In the video below, Gitta of The Portkey Adventures shares multiple compelling arguments for a Wizards Unite release date to coincide with the debut of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.

Previous Niantic game releases

Pokémon GO first launched in July 2016, leading Harry Potter fans to expect a summer release for Wizards Unite. However, Ingress first released on Android in December 2013, although it wasn’t available on iOS until July 2014.

Niantic released a trailer for Pokémon GO in September 2015, six months before the first beta release. That said, the trailer for Ingress coincided with the initial phase of beta-testing.

While Pokémon GO was in beta for three months before the worldwide release, Ingress only spent a single month in beta.

What do the release schedules of Pokémon GO and Ingress tell us about Wizards Unite?

First, we know that Wizards Unite will definitely have a beta version before its overall release. Hanke hinted at this in the interview with Eurogamer. The beta-testing could be as short as one month or as long as three months.

Furthermore, even though Niantic hasn’t yet released a trailer for Wizards Unite, that’s not a clear indication one way or the other as to when beta-testing will begin.

Second, we know that Niantic has successfully launched an Augmented Reality game, one meant to be played outdoors, in the winter. I am one of many voices who predicted that Wizards Unite would release in the spring or summer, but history indicates that fall or winter is just as possible.

In conclusion…

While this interview is certainly exciting, don’t bet on a 2018 release of Wizards Unite just yet. There is simply not enough information to give a definitive timeframe for a Harry Potter: Wizards Unite release date.