Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery (or HP: HM as I’m now going to call it!) pre-registration was announced today along with a new official trailer. Fans of the franchise can pre-register now on Google Play as the game will be released this Spring for iOS and Android mobile devices.
The Game
HP: HM is the first game in the financial behemoth of a franchise available for mobile devices, and is notable not only for that but also the type of game and setting that developer Jam City are going with. Promising a narrative based RPG set in the years between Harry Potters birth and before his enrollment in Hogwarts, the player will create their own personal avatar to play as while attending Hogwarts as a student. Using the games encounter system, budding wizards will interact with other students and teachers while making in-game choices to direct the narrative of the game. They can also attend magic classes, learn spells, battle rivals and embark on quests. Fans will be familiar with most of the characters confirmed to appear so far, which include Severus Snape, Minerva McGonagall, and everybody’s favorite gamekeeper/beard wearer Hagrid.
Development and History
The game’s developer Jam City has a rich history when it comes to the mobile gaming market. Founded in 2010 by Myspace creators Chris DeWolfe and Aber Whitcomb, the company went through several transition phases; with DeWolfes Platform G company acquiring Whitcombs social gaming platform Mindjolt. then, keeping the Mindjolt name, its staff was doubled and it began a new focus on mobile gaming by acquiring two more smaller companies, Social Gaming Network and Hallpass Media, whereupon the company adopted the name Social Gaimnin Network or SGN. In June 2013 SGN Mob Science which was a facebook games developer, then in December 2015 acquired Fat Rascal and Kiwi, Inc. If you’re still following along at this point I commend you, as it took me twenty minutes to decipher what all these acquisitions meant! In September of 2017, with all these small companies under its umbrella, SGN officially changed to Jam City and set goals to focus almost exclusively on mobile free to play games, which would include micro-transactions.
The trailer which dropped today is the second official trailer for the game, and was released with the following quote form Chirs DeWolfe:
“We are grateful to the fans who have made Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery one of the most anticipated mobile games of 2018. We’re thrilled to open Google pre-registration and share a new sneak peek at how this game will let fans create their own character and enter Hogwarts as a student for the first time.”
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