Company type | Division |
---|---|
Industry | Video games |
Founded | 2017 |
Parent | Warner Bros. Games |
Website | portkeygames |
Portkey Games is a video game label owned by Warner Bros. Games founded in 2017 and dedicated to creating gaming experiences related to the Wizarding World. In the beginning, the company's primary focus was on publishing mobile games, but in 2023, they diversified by launching Hogwarts Legacy for both PC and consoles.
Portkey Games was founded in 2017, being committed to producing gaming adventures that are connected to the Wizarding World. [1] [2] [3] [4] The label announced their first game in 2017, [5] [6] working with Pokémon Go creators Niantic to produce a game known as Harry Potter: Wizards Unite . [7] [8] The game would feature the same augmented reality as in Pokémon Go [9] [10] but use characters from the Harry Potter universe. [11]
Later in 2017, before the release of Wizards Unite, [12] Portkey Games also announced a second mobile game in development, called Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery . [13] Hogwarts Mystery allows users to play as a Hogwarts student and is set before the events of the Harry Potter series. The game was released exclusively for iOS and Android on April 25, 2018. [14] [3] Portkey Games then released two more mobile games: Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells in 2020 and Harry Potter: Magic Awakened in 2021. [15] As of October 2022, the four released mobile games accumulated over $1 billion in global revenue. [16]
In 2023, Portkey Games released Hogwarts Legacy , an action role-playing game developed by Avalanche Software. The game is set in the late 1800s and takes place in several Wizarding World locations. [17] [18] Legacy has achieved success shortly after its debut, selling 12 million copies and generating $850 million in sales globally within two weeks. [19] [20] It also broke company records for Warner Bros. Games in terms of player engagement, reaching 280 million hours played. [19]
Year | Title | Developer(s) | Platform(s) | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2018 | Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery | Jam City | Android, iOS | [14] |
2019 | Harry Potter: Wizards Unite | Niantic WB Games San Francisco | Android, iOS | [11] |
2020 | Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells | Zynga | Android, iOS, Fire OS, Facebook | [15] |
2021 | Harry Potter: Magic Awakened | Zen Studio | Android, iOS, Windows | [15] |
2023 | Hogwarts Legacy | Avalanche Software | PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch | [21] |
2024 | Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions | Unbroken Studios | PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch | [22] |
Game Freak Inc. is a Japanese video game developer, best known as the primary developer and co-owners of the Pokémon series of role-playing video games and series.
The fictional universe of the Harry Potter series of novels contains two distinct societies: the "wizarding world" and the "Muggle world". The term "Muggle world" refers to a society inhabited by non-magical people ("Muggles"), while the term "wizarding world" refers to a society of wizards that live parallel to Muggles. The wizarding world is described as a veiled society wherein magic is commonly used and practised; the wizards live in self-enforced seclusion and hide their abilities from Muggles. The novels are set in 1990s Britain, which contains both Muggle and wizard communities. Any new works taking place in this universe are released under the Wizarding World brand.
Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young wizard, Harry Potter, and his friends, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The main story arc concerns Harry's conflict with Lord Voldemort, a dark wizard who intends to become immortal, overthrow the wizard governing body known as the Ministry of Magic, and subjugate all wizards and Muggles.
Lego Harry Potter is a Lego theme based on the film series of the same name and the eponymous novels by British author J. K. Rowling. It is licensed from Warner Bros. Lego models of important scenes, vehicles and characters were made for the first six films and all of the published books. The first sets appeared in 2001, to coincide with the release of the first film, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Subsequent sets were released alongside the new films, until Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The line then went dormant for three years, with sets being released in 2010 and 2011. In 2018, it was announced that more sets based on the Harry Potter franchise would be released, including new sets based on Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and its sequel, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.
Avalanche Software is an American video game developer and subsidiary of Warner Bros. Games based in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was founded in October 1995 by four programmers formerly of Sculptured Software, including John Blackburn, who is chief executive officer. The studio was acquired by the games arm of The Walt Disney Company in May 2005, and spent the next ten years developing Disney-related titles, including the toys-to-life game Disney Infinity (2013). In May 2016, due to a declining toys-to-life games market, Disney decided to close the games arm, including Avalanche. Warner Bros. Games acquired the studio and re-opened it in January 2017.
Harry Potter is a series of fantasy novels by J. K. Rowling.
2017 saw the release of numerous video games as well as other developments in the video game industry. The Nintendo Switch console was released in 2017, which sold more than 14 million units by the end of the year, exceeding the under-performing Wii U lifetime sales. This has helped to revitalize Nintendo, with the "retro" Super NES Classic Edition console, the refreshed New Nintendo 2DS XL handheld and a strategy for mobile gaming. Microsoft also released the higher-powered Xbox One X targeted for 4K resolutions and virtual reality support.
Niantic, Inc. is an American software development company based in San Francisco. Niantic is best known for developing the augmented reality mobile games Ingress and Pokémon Go. The company was formed as Niantic Labs in 2010 as an internal startup within Google. The company became an independent entity in October 2015 when Google restructured under Alphabet Inc. Niantic has additional offices in Bellevue, Los Angeles, Sunnyvale, Seattle, Lawrence, Tokyo, London, Hamburg, and Zürich.
The Wizarding World is a fantasy media franchise and shared fictional universe centred on the Harry Potter novel series by J. K. Rowling. A series of films have been in production since 2000, and in that time eleven films have been produced—eight are adaptations of the Harry Potter novels and three are part of the Fantastic Beasts series. The films are owned and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. The series has collectively grossed over $9.6 billion at the global box office, making it the fourth-highest-grossing film franchise of all time.
Harry Potter: Wizards Unite was an augmented reality (AR) mobile game developed by Niantic and WB Games San Francisco, and published by Niantic, under license from Portkey Games. The game is based on the Harry Potter series and part of the Wizarding World media franchise, created by J. K. Rowling. Wizards Unite begins as the player creates their avatar and starts their journey at the player's real world location. The player character engages with the world by casting spells, discovering artefacts and facing known characters and beasts of the Wizarding World universe.
Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery is a 2018 role-playing video game developed and published by Jam City. The game is set in the Wizarding World and based on the Harry Potter novels written by J.K. Rowling. Hogwarts Mystery follows a player character entering the fictional school of Hogwarts and is set before the events of the novels. The game released on 25 April 2018 for Android and iOS devices. Many of the actors from the Harry Potter film series provided their voices for the game.
The Harry Potter video games are a series of video games based on the Harry Potter novel and film series originally created by English author J. K. Rowling. Many of the Harry Potter-inspired video games are tie-ins to the film adaptations of the same name. There are multiple distinct versions for individual games.
In the video game industry, 2022 saw the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the industry, slowing hardware sales for most of the year as well as development delays for major titles. The industry continued its trend of acquisitions and mergers, highlighted by Microsoft announcing its plan to acquire Activision Blizzard for nearly $69 billion. The industry as a whole continued to deal with issues such as workplace harassment and discrimination, alongside crunch periods, leading to at least the quality assurance staff at three separate studios to vote to unionize.
Hogwarts Legacy is a 2023 action role-playing game developed by Avalanche Software and published by Warner Bros. Games under its Portkey Games label. It is part of the Wizarding World franchise, taking place a century prior to the Harry Potter novels. The player controls a student enrolled in the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry who learns to wield an array of magical abilities and objects. With the assistance of fellow students and professors, the protagonist embarks on a journey to unearth an ancient secret concealed within the wizarding world.
In the video game industry, 2023 saw significant changes within larger publishers and developers. Microsoft, after having satisfied worldwide regulatory bodies, completed its US$69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, making them the third largest game publisher in the world. Embracer Group, which had been in an acquisition spree over the previous few years, had an estimated $2 billion deal fall through, causing many of the studios under Embracer to either lay off staff or close entirely. Similar layoffs were seen at Unity, Amazon, ByteDance, Epic Games, Bungie, and Ubisoft, leading to over 9,000 jobs lost in the industry in 2023 and part of a larger trend of layoffs at technology companies in 2023.
Harry Potter: Magic Awakened is a 2021 collectible card role-playing game developed by Zen Studio. NetEase published the game in China and Taiwan, while Warner Bros. Games under its Portkey Games label published elsewhere. The game focuses on controlling a student being new at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry that engages with the magical world of Harry Potter.
Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions is a sports video game developed by Unbroken Studios and published by Warner Bros. Games under its Portkey Games label. The game focuses on the Harry Potter-related sport Quidditch. The player controls a character that holds a specific position in Quidditch and engages in broomstick adventures and competitive multiplayer modes.