Jam City unveiled a new trailer for its Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery mobile game, showing new gameplay features and opening signups to download the game on Google Play. This represents a chance for Jam City to move further into the big time of mobile games, which has become a $50 billion annual industry, according to market researcher Newzoo.
Los Angeles-based Jam City is making the mobile game about attending the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry under a license from author J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment’s Portkey Games label. By signing up for it, fans can get notified when it launches this spring.
The trailer teases how you’ll make a big choice at the start by choosing one of the houses: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Slytherin, and Hufflepuff. It gives a glimpse of characters Rowan and Penny, and its shows the common rooms for the four houses. It also shows the various professors who will be in the game, and it highlights how you’ll take classes, cast spells, and duel with rivals at Hogwarts. It also previews the first mystery in the narrative with the Ice Vault.
Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery will be available on the Apple App Store and Google Play. Jam City bills it as the first mobile game where players can create their own character and experience life as a Hogwarts student. It’s a narrative adventure with role-playing game elements.
Above: You can choose your house in Jam City’s Harry Potter game.
Players will create a student avatar, attend classes, learn magical skills, and form friendships or rivalries with other students. In the game, players make pivotal decisions that influence their character’s story arc at Hogwarts. The game features a new encounter system where player decisions and actions impact their quests, allowing Harry Potter fans to create their own legacy as a witch or wizard.
Above: Dueling animation in Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery.
Jam City was founded in 2010 by former MySpace cofounders Chris DeWolfe, Aber Whitcomb, and Yguado, a former 20th Century Fox executive. The company is the creator of popular and top grossing games including Cookie Jam, Panda Pop, Family Guy: Another Freakin’ Mobile Game, and Marvel Avengers Academy among other titles. Jam City has more than 500 employees.
The Harry Potter books have sold more than 500 million copies, and the films have grossed more than $7.7 billion at the box office.
