A video, leaked this morning by a Reddit user who says they captured it from a focus group, shows an apparent big-budget Harry Potter game that looks fantastic.
Publisher Warner Bros. has yanked the video from YouTube, but you can watch a mirror here. The footage shows, among other things: Wizards in Hogwarts academy casting spells, alchemical experiments, owls and magical beasts, and even a glimpse of the whimsical village of Hogsmeade, located right near Hogwarts’ campus. The Reddit leaker, who goes by VapeThisBro, describes the game as a third-person open-world action game in which you customize your own wizard, a fifth-year student at Hogwarts.
Observers early this morning theorized that this game might be made by Arkham developer Rocksteady Studios, but we don’t believe that’s the case. (From what I’ve heard, Rocksteady is still sticking to superheroes.)
One possibility is that this game is in development at Avalanche Software, the Utah-based company that was once owned by Disney before it was temporarily shut down in 2016, then brought back to life by Warner Bros. Job listings dug up in early 2017 for Avalanche Software—not to be confused with Just Cause developer Avalanche Studios, which is based in Sweden and New York City—certainly point to a game like this. “We are looking for a talented storyteller with a deep understanding of British culture and grammatical presentation.”
Is this a brand new Harry Potter video game for next year or even the next generation of consoles, which we expect to see released in 2020? Only time will tell.