As the world eagerly awaits the official and wider rollout of the Harry Potter Wizards Unite game, it looks like the company that created it is beefing up its augmented reality portfolio. They have announced the acquisition of a London-based company called Sensible Object and renamed it Niantic London. Not only will they be able to enhance current and future games with their new company’s technical expertise but this can also serve as an “in” within the London public gaming scene.
According to a SlashGear article, Sensible Object says that they have been “pioneering new kinds of play for augmented reality, connected hardware, and voice AI.” Based on this description, it’s not a surprise that Niantic has acquired them and the two companies seem to be a good fit. The latter is of course the ones who brought us such addictive and pioneering games like Ingress and Pokémon Go as well as the aforementioned Harry Pottter game which is already being called the next Pokémon Go but with wands.
Alex Fleetwood, founder of Sensible Object, said that being acquired by Niantic is actually bringing him back to the first game that he ever ran, Journey to the End of the Night which he brought over back in May 2007. So he’s not just bringing their expertise in AR games, AI, and connected hardware but also physical gaming experience.
The Harry Potter Wizards Unite game is one of the most highly anticipated game releases of 2019 but is also one that Potterheads have been waiting for a really, long time. They have finally announced that June 21 is the date, at least for those in the US and the UK.
It won’t be a big surprise if Sensible Object, or we mean Niantic London, will play a big part in it as the game further develops. We’ll find out more soon probably, including what other games they will be able to create now that they’ve added another company to their portfolio,
