Game News The Abandoned Games of Harry Potter
Published on 02/12/2023 at 13:30
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The party around Hogwarts Legacy is making a lot of noise. It makes you wonder why such a project only sees the light of day in 2023. The Editorial Board has therefore conducted its investigation. It has been discovered that some games based on the Harry Potter universe have simply fallen through. We tell you more in this new column!
Accuracy
The following text is a transcript of the video at the top of the page.
Summary
A Nintendo exclusive?The Nintendo 64, second failure…The MMO Harry PotterWhen the Potterheads get involved…Various genres
A Nintendo exclusive?
This story goes back to 1998 and seems almost insane. In the chronology of Harry Potter works, we are one year after the release of the first book and three years before the release of the films. At that time, JK Rowling launched a call for tenders to sell the rights to her little gem. After that, Nintendo grabs the adventures of the little wizard and wants to produce one game per book. An exclusivity for the Japanese firm, which would have prevented any other adaptation around the project, in particular the feature films that we know today. The teams therefore have the mission of adopting a more Japanese artistic direction with a manga style in order to get rid of the British traits imported by the author. A request that was quickly rejected to avoid ransacking the original universe. Thanks Nintendo!
The Nintendo 64, second failure…
We continue on the path of chess with this time a failed adaptation of Harry Potter at the Sorcerer’s Stone on the Nintendo 64. The first game was indeed considered on the console of our childhood in 2001. Finally, the latter remained warm at Sony as an exclusive PlayStation 1. Sold more than eight million units in less than six months, this opus was considered at that time as a hit for the Japanese giant. Two years later, GameCube, PS2 and Xbox versions are released, but a little too late for Nintendo, which again sees the opportunity to adapt Harry Potter go up in smoke.
Le MMO Harry Potter
In 2010, Electronic Arts holds in its hands the beta of a massively multiplayer role-playing game on the theme of Harry Potter. It is therefore the dream game for all fans of the franchise who wish to live an experience at Hogwarts. A project suddenly canceled on the pretext that a game around this saga would no longer be very profitable financially after one or two years. Between us, they were wrong. In retrospect, it’s bound to be frustrating and unfortunately it’s not the only MMO to have been abandoned.
When the Potterheads get involved…
On the amateur side, another MMO was designed in 2015 under the name of The Wizarding. Thirty people mobilized to produce this game and the budget was estimated at $100,000! The fine team had planned everything: PVP, PVE intrigues, duels and Quidditch! All the elements were there to make this THE MMO product that fans have been waiting for for years. However, copyright soon became an issue (no kidding) and reality soon caught up with them. As a reminder, the name chosen is the name of the current Harry Potter world internet portal. Smart magicians…
Various genres
Finally, can we take a few minutes to focus our attention on the variety of games around Harry Potter? First, we think of LEGO, which has the merit of favoring originality over quality. Then we were entitled to Harry Potter for Kinect, which includes physical mini-games where it is possible to reproduce some important scenes from the different films. In this same style, there is also Wonderbook Harry Potter, which aims to teach you how to cast lots of spells: Lumos, Alohomora, Wingardium Leviosa, Accio, Expelliarmus, Expecto Patronum… All in augmented reality, please! And you, which project inspired you the most?
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