Originally speaking to The Inquirer, an anonymous source claims that Niantic and Samsung have made a $40 million deal to collaborate on exclusive games together. In addition, certain Niantic titles may come pre-loaded on future Samsung devices, similarly to the recent Fortnite Samsung collaboration.
It’s worth noting that the rumor doesn’t actually call out Harry Potter: Wizards Unite - the AR Harry Potter game currently being worked on by Niantic - by name. It refers to the partnership project as an ’exclusive Harry Potter game’. While that makes it sound as though it’s a brand new game for Samsung, Niantic currently has its hands full updating Ingress and Pokemon GO, as well as working on Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. If it’s a brand new game, players may not see it for some time yet.
The information explains that players with the S-pen stylus will be able to use it as a sort of magic wand with the game. If the rumor isn’t referring to a brand new game, it may simply mean that Samsung phone owners get a special edition of Harry Potter: Wizards Unite with special features utilizing the unique functionality and accessories of Samsung flagship phones.
While this rumor is unsubstantiated at this time, Samsung has previously partnered with Epic Games to bring Fortnite to the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 before all other Android users could gain access to it. This prior partnership lends some credence to the notion that Samsung could be seeking out other popular mobile game devs to collaborate with. It’s possible that Harry Potter: Wizards Unite could see an early release on Samsung phones, too, although the information available on the partnership doesn’t address this.
Niantic has experienced some extraordinary success with its recent games, in part due to their widespread availability on multiple devices and operating systems. Limiting a game based on a major property like Harry Potter to just one brand of devices seems rather limiting, and could cut into Niantic’s microtransaction-based profits considerably. After all, Samsung’s phones only make up a portion of the devices on the market, and the likelihood is even die-hard fans of Harry Potter may balk at spending hundreds or more on a device to play one mobile title.
Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is slated to release in 2019.
Source: The Inquirer
