"Pokemon Go" developers Niantic is not making any Harry Potter game. A claim circulating on July 31 that Niantic is developing a similar augmented reality game for the popular wizard turned out to be false.
The original source of the Niantic and Harry Potter connection is jtxhnews, according to Gizmodo. The site cited an IGN interview with one Marcus Figueroa, who was introduced as a Niantic developer. He said that they had started developing the Harry Potter game and hoped to release it by 2017.
The Harry Potter game is said to be based on Niantic's popular mobile app game, "Pokemon Go". However, further investigation revealed that the linked page of the supposed interview leads to nowhere.
The usual Niantic person officially speaking to the press is none other than its founder, John Hanke. It is now apparent that "Marcus Figueroa" is most possibly a fake person as well since online searches only connects him with the particular interview, according to the Morning Ledger. As of date, Niantic has not made any official announcement if it's even considering developing a Harry Potter mobile app game.
Observers point out that it will take some time before the developer embarks on another major project. The popularity of "Pokemon Go" is still going strong. Niantic or rather its servers could barely keep up with huge demand.
Niantic is receiving a lot of flak for the constant glitches in its servers. "Pokemon Go" Cheaters are proudly showing off their skills and exploits online. The use of GPS spoofing and other forms of cheating continues, according to an earlier iTechPost report. Waning player interest and the use of bots in the "Pokemon Go" is also an issue that needs to be addressed, according to another iTechPost report.
However, this information will do little to console the Potterhead fans who were eagerly waiting for the release of an augmented reality game similar to "Pokemon Go".
