'Harry Potter GO' release news: An online petition nearing its goal
An online petition addressed to Warner Bros. and Niantic was made to create the game "Harry Potter GO." As of this writing, the petition has 56,941 supporters, which is only 3,059 short of its 60,000 goal.
"Pokemon GO" continues to take the world by storm and the petition suggests that a Harry Potter-inspired version of the game would be better. Part of it says, "The possibilities are endless. In a Harry Potter augmented reality game, you could cast spells in real life. Accio Firebolt! And have a wizard duel with your friends, expelliarmus could disable their app for a few seconds!"
The petition was inspired by a trailer posted on YouTube by Stargaze Media on Aug. 3. The video shows creatures from the series called fantastic beasts appearing in real-life places instead of the Pokemon in "Pokemon GO." Hogwarts Houses, namely Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and HufflePuff, are the equivalent of the PokeGyms. The video also shows Collectable Cards and Magic-Stops.
The petition ends with, "According to my brief study of economics, if there is enough demand, it will be supplied. Sign this petition to demand a Harry Potter augmented reality game with me!"
"Harry Potter" is a series of fantasy novels penned by renowned author J.K. Rowling and was first released in 1997. The book quickly rose to popularity and it did not take long before Warner Bros. acquired the rights for film distribution. The first movie based on the first novel was released in 2001.
Niantic, on the other hand, is the developer and publisher of "Pokemon GO," which was released in July this year. "Pokemon GO" is a location-based augmented reality game created for Android and iOS devices.
Neither Warner Bros. nor Niantic has made a comment regarding the request to create "Harry Potter GO" yet.