AR Gaming Played Out? Harry Potter Wizards Unite Popularity Falling Far Short of Pokémon Go's Peak

With the continued success of Pokémon Go -- yes it's still huge worldwide -- the common wisdom in the AR/VR industry is that augmented reality games need to have a major brand to go mass market. With the recent launch of Harry Potter Wizards, an AR game that's also from the creator of Pokémon Go, that common wisdom is not looking so wise:

Harry Potter: Wizards Unite generated an estimated $1.1 million in player spending over its first weekend of availability and was installed by nearly three million new players, Sensor Tower Store Intelligence data shows. Based on its performance over the period of June 20 through June 23, and its impending launch in Japan and South Korea, the two largest markets where it remains unavailable, we project that Harry Potter: Wizards Unite stands to gross more than $10 million in its first 30 days. Niantic’s previous release, the smash hit Pokémon GO, generated more than $28 million in player spending during its first four days post-launch on 24 million installs in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand alone. It went on to gross $206 million and see close to 173 million downloads in its first month.

I'm seriously surprised at Harry Potter's tepid results, because I fully expected it to be a big hit. There's still a good chance Niantic can turn this around by tweaking the game -- some early reviews suggest it feels like a Pokémon GO knockoff without the organic charm -- but the relatively small number of downloads suggests some more fundamental problems.

I mean, just watch the trailer:

Totally engaging and true to the spirit of the Harry Potter franchise and effectively integrated into an AR experience! So where's the hundreds of millions of Harry Potter fans eager to play?

Hat tip: Josh Constine.

Comments

[Marianne McCann]

It could also be because the franchise is a bit played out right now, the game mechanics aren't quite there, etc.

[sirhc desantis]

Harry who? Wasn't that like last century?
As for the trailer - if I wanted escapism from a craptastic UK housing estate I woukd have moved - oh wait I did.
(Although the make up a spell comments on the vid are fun - I feel a HUD coming on)

[Wrath]

Since the only options to play require using a Facebook or Google login kinda killed it for a lot of people...

[McDVoice]

is it out yet ?