Harry Potter: Wizards Unite's first month revenue lags far behind Pokémon Go
Sensor Tower data shows Niantic's new game firmly in Pokémon Go's shadow
Niantic's Harry Potter: Wizards Unite earned $12 million in its first month, according to estimates from Sensor Tower.
However, while that is more than any other mobile game in the "location-based AR" category, it is still very far short of Niantic's previous release, Pokémon Go.
Sensor Tower's estimate for Pokémon Go's launch month revenue is around $300 million -- almost 30 times the amount earned by Wizards Unite in the same period of time.
Harry Potter is also far behind in terms of downloads, with 15 million compared to Pokémon Go's 182 million.
The new game is still ahead of other, similar mobile games, such as Ludia's Jurassic World Alive and Next Games' The Walking Dead: Our World. Wizards Unite had more than double the downloads of Jurassic World Alive (which had 6.5 million), but it was only slightly ahead of that game's $10.3 million first-month revenue.
While Harry Potter is a more popular brand than Pokémon overall, Wizards Unite has not caught fire in the way Pokémon did. When we spoke to Niantic's John Hanke earlier this year, he pointed out the broad appeal of Harry Potter.
"Harry Potter's a bigger franchise in terms of global awareness and fanbase than Pokémon was, so there's huge potential there," he said. "It's one of the only big franchises that has more female than male fans.
"When you look at Star Wars or Avengers or IP like that, they tend to skew male. Harry Potter is the only one that really pulls against that."
I'd like to know what their revenue expectations were. I doubt they expected to match Pokemon Go's launch.
Pokemon was something new, with unique mechanics and gameplay flow. It became a cultural phenomenon and as Daryl very well said - Pokemon's narrative revolves around "Gotta catch them all". The Harry Potter IP's essential experience is something different. Its about growth, gaining knowledge+skill and mastering what you've learned.
Fidget spinners were a thing, Tamagocci was a thing, Location based AR games were a thing. Its time for the next novelty. :)