Harry Potter: Wizards Unite beta version casts spell on Australia, New Zealand – CNET

Muggles in Australia and New Zealand can try out Harry Potter: Wizards Unite as the beta test kicks off in their countries.

Developer Niantic is warning players that this isn’t the final version of the  augmented reality (AR) game, which is location-based like Pokemon Go and tasks players with tracking down magical creatures and artifacts as part of the Statute of Secrecy Task Force.

“Features, available languages, design, and overall appearance are not final,” it said in a release. “The product might be buggy and unstable at times.”

It didn’t offer any details about expanding the beta test to other countries, and noted that the “core gameplay experience” will only be active in regions that are officially in the beta — so you’d probably have only have access to a truncated version if you used trickery to download it and tried to play outside Australia or New Zealand.

We’ve only got a rather vague “2019” release date, but can sign up for updates and pre-register on Google Play. You can’t do so on iOS just yet, but there’s always Lego to tide you over.

First published at 2:52 a.m. PT.
Updated at 3:22 a.m. PT: Adds more detail.