Niantic Raises $200 Million Just Weeks After New Harry Potter AR Game Announcement
It seems Niantic Labs is dead serious in coming up with a massive follow-up to its hit mobile game, "Pokemon GO."
According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, the game developer confirmed last Friday that it has raised $200 million in capital. The Series B raise was spearheaded by Spark Capital, together with other investors like Founders Fund, Meritech, Javelin, You & Mr. Jones and NetEase.
"This round enables new strategic opportunities and enhances our ability to make long-term investments in augmented reality and the Niantic real-world platform," said Niantic CEO John Hanke in a statement to CNet. The announcement came just a few weeks after the company announced that a new augmented reality (AR) game titled "Harry Potter: Wizards Unite" is currently in development.
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The $200 million capital was nearly seven times as much as the funding raised by Niantic for "Pokemon GO." According to TechCrunch, Niantic raised $30 million for the said mobile game, led by a group of investors comprised of Google, Nintendo, Alsop Loui Partners, Cyan and Scott Banister, and The Pokemon Company, among others.
Earlier this month, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (WBIE) announced the launching of Portkey Games. The new label will be in charge of releasing a series of console and mobile games featuring the "Harry Potter" franchise, explained WBIE's announcement posted on the Pottermore website.
WBIE confirmed that the games will feature an extensive lineup of old and new characters "at different points in their lives' from the Harry Potter stories." Furthermore, the games will also showcase "new story elements" and "new locations" that will add more color and spice to the gameplay.
In addition, WBIE president David Haddad also expressed his excitement for the launching of the new label. "With Portkey Games, we are thrilled to answer the fans' requests for more games inspired by J.K. Rowling's Wizarding World," said Haddad. "We are working with talented creators to build games that focus on player-generated stories, which will live alongside the magical universe created by J.K. Rowling," he added.
"Harry Potter: Wizards Unite" will come out sometime in 2018.
