X

Harry Potter: Wizards Unite's first fan festival is happening this summer

Witches and wizards will gather for a real-world event.

Abrar Al-Heeti Technology Reporter
Abrar Al-Heeti is a technology reporter for CNET, with an interest in phones, streaming, internet trends, entertainment, pop culture and digital accessibility. She's also worked for CNET's video, culture and news teams. She graduated with bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Though Illinois is home, she now loves San Francisco -- steep inclines and all.
Expertise Abrar has spent her career at CNET analyzing tech trends while also writing news, reviews and commentaries across mobile, streaming and online culture. Credentials
  • Named a Tech Media Trailblazer by the Consumer Technology Association in 2019, a winner of SPJ NorCal's Excellence in Journalism Awards in 2022 and has three times been a finalist in the LA Press Club's National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards.
Abrar Al-Heeti
harrypotterwizardsunite

Harry Potter: Wizards Unite will have its first real-world event this summer.

Screenshot Clifford Colby/CNET

Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, the augmented reality game that's cast a spell on fans and players since launching last week, is getting its first real-world event this summer. The first Harry Potter: Wizards Unite Fan Festival is slated to take place Aug. 31 to Sept. 1 in Indianapolis, Indiana, the game's account tweeted Thursday. 

Not many details are available yet, but updates will be posted on the Harry Potter: Wizards Unite social channels and on the Fan Festival page.

In its first weekend, the Harry Potter game brought in $1.1 million and added nearly 3 million players. It's predicted to make $10 million within a month. 

Similar to Pokemon Go, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite uses your phone's GPS and prompts you to move around the physical world to interact with AR objects, characters and points of interest. The game was first announced in 2017 and is a joint effort from WB Games San Francisco and Niantic under the Portkey Games label.