niantic: This popular AR game by Niantic is shutting down next year – Times of India

Harry Potter: Wizards Unite was launched as the ‘spiritual successor’ to Pokemon GO in 2019 and today Niantic, the studio behind both the games, has announced that the game will be shutting down on January 31, 2022.
Niantic, in an official post, confirmed that the game will be pulled from Apple App Store, Google Play Store and Samsung Galaxy Store on December 6 and all the in-app purchases will also be paused on the same day. The post further confirms that the game’s social media channels and community forums will be closed on January 31.
Niantic hasn’t confirmed anything behind the reason for shutting down the game. We are assuming that it’s because of the lack of popularity among the audience, despite being based on the same concept as Pokemon Go. Which, by the way, is five years old and still popular.
The App analytics website, Sensor Tower report suggests that Harry Potter: Wizards Unite never managed to beat Niantic’s Pokemon GO in terms of revenue. The game has just earned around $40 million since its launch, while Pokemon GO manages to churn out around a billion per year.
Those who don’t know, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite was based on the similar AR concept of Pokemon GO with a storyline based on the J.K. Rowling sci-fi novel — Harry Potter.
Niantic is also working on other AR game based on the Transformers series and the company has recently launched a new game called Pikmin Bloom.