Pokémon GO was by and large Niantic’s biggest game ever, generating literal heaps of players in its first few days following the launch that no one should really be surprised by. It’s based on Pokémon after all. Harry Potter: Wizards Unite on the other hand is nowhere near as popular according to a recent research study, which shows that the number of players which decided to give Wizards Unite a try is only a small fraction of the number of people that picked up Pokémon GO during its opening weekend.
The research, which focuses partially on the data of how much money was spent by players in those first few days, paints the picture of how engaged players have been with becoming a spell-wielding wizard the likes of which this world has never seen.
While there will no doubt be legions of Potter fans giving this game a try as time goes on, it was probably expected to make a bigger splash considering the number of fans that the Harry Potter universe has had through the release of all the books and films. Alas, the wizarding world doesn’t seem to be as enchanting as both Warner Bros. and Niantic were hoping. Not from the get-go at least.
Following the first four days of the game’s launch the research data shows that players have spent around $1.1 Million on in-game items. How many players you ask? According to the research it’s about 3 Million players across the platforms the game is available on, which includes both iOS and Android.
3 Million players in just a few days is nothing to shake a stick at nor is just over $1 Million in revenue from micro transactions especially considering the short amount of time that this was acquired in. But, when comparing these numbers to those of Pokémon GO it’s quite clear that more people were excited for it than Niantic’s latest venture.
In contrast, Pokémon GO had about 24 Million installs from the US, Australia, and New Zealand during its first four days of availability, and between those 24 Million players about $28 Million was spent on in-game items, literally blasting past the installs and revenue of Harry Potter: Wizards Unite.
Some things to consider. Both franchises are extremely popular, so perhaps there’s still plenty of time for more wizards to come out of the woodwork. Pokémon GO also lends itself really well to the platform it was placed on. There’s just something about using your smartphone screen to catch Pokémon in the wild that probably resonates with the player base as OG fans of the franchise have been dreaming of the possibility to be trainers for a couple of decades, which is far longer than Harry Potter has been around so there was more time to generate a large number of fans.
These aren’t necessarily the biggest reasons for the larger number of installs and the larger amount of spending, but they could very well have contributed to it. As for where players spent the most money, the US accounts for the majority while the UK comes in second, with about 88-percent and 8-percent of spending coming from those two countries respectively.
Harry Potter: Wizards Unite just began an official promotion with AT&T that sees 10,000 retail locations act as hubs for fortresses and inns where players can earn more experience for leveling and more spell energy. Perhaps this promotion can help garner more buzz for the game and generate more revenue.