Here's how the first half hour or so of my experience with Harry Potter: Wizards Unite went. I opened the game, went through some basic tutorial stuff and walked around for the course of four levels or so.
“Well,” I thought to myself. “Maybe Minecraft Earth will make this work.”
Minecraft Earth is Microsoft and Mojang's upcoming walking game, and itwill be the second ultra high-profile game to try and recapture the magic that made Pokemon GO one of the most profitable mobile games in history. Sure, there have been plenty of other titles in the meantime with varying degrees of success from franchises like Ghostbusters, Jurassic Park and The Walking Dead. But there's big and then there's big, and these games are big. Harry Potter was big based on the scope of the franchise and the fact that it was coming from the same developer as Pokemon GO. Minecraft Earth is big because, you know, Minecraft.
Minecraft Earth CREDIT: MICROSOFT
We recently got to see some gameplay from this thing, and it looks cool. It looks similar to those other games on some level, but it also looks like it's on a much better track to translate this property than what Wizards Unite did with what it had to work with: it helps that Mojang understands what makes this thing tick down at its bones.
Things kick off with a closed beta coming up “in the next two weeks”, according to a recent announcement. It will start on iOs and move to Android “soon” afterwards. From the website:
- The closed beta will launch for iOS in the next two weeks, with the Android version following soon thereafter.
- As with most closed betas, the number of participants will be limited in numbers and locations. This is to make sure our servers are able to keep up with all the exploration, creation and, hopefully, surviving that is going on around the world. To learn about the current availability of the beta, follow Minecraft Earth on Twitter!
- As is also common with beta versions, your progress will occasionally be reset as we test and develop various features of the game.
- If you are selected to participate in the closed beta (congratulations!), you will receive an invitation email to the email address you have associated with the Microsoft Account or Xbox Live account you submitted in your registration.
- If you are selected (congrats again!), you will need to play at least once every 7 days. If you don’t, we’ll give your spot to someone else, as space in the beta is very limited.
- You have to be 18 years or older to participate.
