Harry Potter Wizards Unite: Latest rumors in its AR game project

Niantic, the company behind the wildly popular Pokemon Go mobile game, is developing a new Harry Potter title

Fantastic beasts, wizard adventures and magic spells will come to life in a new Harry Potter-themed augmented reality mobile game from from Niantic Labs, the company behind Pokemon Go.

Harry Potter: Wizards Unite will bring author J.K. Rowling's Wizarding World to mobile phones, and use augmented reality (AR) to create a real-world scavenger hunt.

Players will be able to cast spells, find artifacts, team up and encounter magical beasts and characters from the popular book series, according to Niantic.

"The beloved Harry Potter stories have captured imaginations worldwide for more than 20 years," John Hanke, founder and CEO of Niantic, said in a statement.

"Soon we'll turn the fantasy into augmented reality, allowing fans and their friends to become wizards and witches."

Here's what we know so far about the new game:

Who is developing the game?

Niantic announced that it is developing the augmented-reality game with Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment's WB Games San Francisco division, and its newly created Portkey Games label.

What is it?

The new Harry Potter game will be based on J.K. Rowling's hugely popular book series and the Warner Bros films, which have grossed more than $7.7 billion (£5.9 billion) at the box office to date.

The idea is that it will let players virtually immerse themselves in Rowling's magical world, overlaid on their real-world surroundings via smartphones.

As players wander around different neighbourhoods and cities, they will embark on different adventures, learn and cast spells, discover mysterious artifacts, and encounter legendary beasts and iconic characters.

The game's use of real locations is similar to Niantic's Pokemon Go , which became the first mass market adoption of AR in July 2016 and allows players to "catch" animated characters that appeared in their real surroundings.

Release date

No release date was given for the Harry Potter game, but Niantic and Warner Bros said more details would be available next year.

In the meantime, Warner Bros, which produced the $7.7 billion-grossing Harry Potter film franchise, will release Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 2 in November 2018.

This is the second installment in a new series of films that expand the world Rowling created in her Potter franchise.

Where can I find out more?

The official website for the game is harrypotterwizardsunite.com . You can sign up to receive the latest information as soon as it's announced, and we'll also be keeping this article updated with the latest news.