Harry Potter: Magic Awakened, the new NetEase mobile game licensed by Warner Bros., has just had a phenomenal launch in China. Players can enroll in Hogwarts as a student, and go through a series of stories and adventures with beloved Harry Potter characters and some new friends. Despite its rather ordinary TCG-style combat gameplay, Harry Potter: Magic Awakened still became the most gossiped game in China right now.
On the first day of its launch, the game reached the top spot on both Free and Grossing charts in Apple Store China, and some servers had more than 5,000 players queuing up, and waiting to log in. Even during its pre-order and pre-download phase, the game had gained huge traction on Chinese social media and was crowned "the most successful launch by NetEase this year".
Parts of in-game features are already available during the pre-download stage, including the house sorting ceremony and some dormitory functions that allow players to invite friends as roommates and decorate their dorms. This makes hashtags such as #IBelongToHufflepuff and #CollegeRoommatesReunite trending on Chinese social media even before any meaningful content is actually available in-game.
It’s not difficult to understand why this game has become a hot cake. The Harry Potter series has a huge fan base in China. Young Chinese players are eager to post their Houses on social media. And the excitement of reuniting with college roommates also prompts players to share that nostalgic feeling.
Harry Potter: Magic Awakened also released some quite authentic gameplay including potion-making, ballroom dancing, and Quidditch – all well-received among its players. However, the game merely received a score of 6.2/10 on the Chinese game review platform TapTap, due to criticism of NetEase’s somewhat aggressive monetizing model. This means the game still faces some long-term operating challenges.
Harry Potter: Magic Awakened was first announced in October 2019, and has undergone multiple tests since. NetEase partnered with Portkey Games, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. that specializes in the adaptation and development of the Harry Potter game franchise.
NetEase has now confirmed that Harry Potter: Magic Awakened will be released throughout Asia this winter but has not yet announced any specific release time for each country and region. NetEase also announced on Twitter that the game will launch in Europe and the United States in the future.