Is a Harry Potter version of Pokemon Go in the works?

Stop for a minute and imagine how wonderful that would be. A Pokemon Go-like game based on Harry Potter. You’re running around searching for Horcruxes, killing Death Eaters. Ten points to Gryffindor!

Ever since the launch of Pokemon Go, people have been exploring the possibilities of similar games that unite Augmented Reality and our childhood obsessions. Harry Potter being one of them. The news that Pokemon Go’s creator, Niantic, working on a Harry Potter-themed game has been reported by several online agencies but never by a very trusted source. And earlier today, Gizmodo burst the bubble by labeling all such news as a hoax.

One of the originators of this hoax, JTXH News, made it sound very believable by even going so far as to quote Niantic’s senior developer Marcus Figueroa in an interview with IGN.

We have acquired the rights for the app. The demand for this title was absolutely insane, so we figured we’d give it a shot. If we’re lucky we might see a launch by early 2017, but it’s hard to tell this early in the project. We want to do something with schools of witchcraft and wizardry, similar to Pokestops in Pokemon GO. As wells a quest system, and possibly large scale completely interactive events, but no promises. That’s all I can say.

And here’s the thing, IGN never conducted any such interview with Marcus Figueroa!

I realize how saddened you must be but the lesson to be learnt here is that the Internet is an expert in whipping up elaborate pranks. While the possibility of a Harry Potter-themed game has neither been confirmed nor denied by Niantic, I’d like to hope that it is released some day.

Till then, we have Harry Potter and the Cursed Child to keep us warm!