Great news, fellow Witches and Wizards, as an open-world Harry Potter RPG appears to be on the horizon. In 2018 Avalanche Studios was rumored to be hard, and quietly, at work on a game based on the popular franchise. Since then there has been no official word on subject, but anonymous sources seem to constantly echo the same main idea, leading to what may be an announcement soon.
Recently, Avalanche Studios listed a job posting for a Multiplayer/Network programmer to assist in the creation of their newest project, which is an unnamed open world game. Regardless of what the project is, this does seem to point to an announcement for the project that is not far off. This is not the first time that the organization has posted for positions in the development of this large, open-world title.
Over the last couple of years, there have also been several leaks of video and images that could be from the game in development. Whenever any footage arose it was quickly removed from the internet. The image below is one such example that shows a character holding what appears to be a wand, and some form of magical creature.
There is also a strong connection between the developer and the franchise. In 2014 Warner Bros. began to aggressively develop the Harry Potter brand on a global level far beyond what fans saw in the books and films. Warner Bros. Interactive acquired Avalanche Studios in 2016, clearly linking the two organizations towards this unknown project, and it would be surprising to hear of anything but a Harry Potter title in the works.
Warner Bros. is no stranger to licensing the creation of games in the Harry Potter universe, as most recently seen with the augmented-reality game Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, and Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells. For now, this is all speculation, but there are clearly several signs pointing to this kind of a project.
As for an announcement, E3 would have been the ideal launching ground for a brand as globally recognized as Harry Potter, but recent concerns of the spread of coronavirus may derail that event entirely. If the event is scrapped, we may see a different kind of game announcement by Avalanche Studios, as there is clearly something major happening at the developer, and it’s only a matter of time until we find out what that could be.
Source: segmentnext.com, deadline.com, avalanchestudios.com