The success of Harry Potter : Awakening the Magic, the trend in China

Within the first week, it has already been downloaded for 2,379,000 times and made a profit of 1,367,000 dollars, which made this game among the most downloaded one on iOS.

Harry Potter: Magic Awakened announced to be put on line 20 days in advance and can be immediately subscribed with mobile phone number to enter a mini-program game scene. The player will then receive special gifts and a wand once registered. The game’s official WeChat account has already been buzzing for more than one year by posting eye-catching articles during the development process. It kept drawing Harry Potter fans’ attention and gained a number of followers. They also prepared a bilingual letter of admission including a customized poster with the player’s name on it to share on social media.

On the day before the official launch, players also received a phone call from “Hogwarts” reminding them that school will start soon and game can be downloaded. This series of promotion helped to create buzz and even attracted non Harry Potter fans. To date, the game has already been downloaded for 550,000 times on TapTap, a specialized game download website, with over 1,000,000 subscribers.

The game has been listed the Top 10 searched topics on Weibo(Chinese Twitter) for days.

NetEase chooses to launch the game in the beginning of September, which is also the start of new school year in real life. The game soon became trendy among young gamers as it gives them a “back to school” experience. It also became a popular social platform that attracted fans to share their childhood memories through choosing their desired House, roommates, outfits, wand, etc.In terms of the game design, it did not simply reproduce the original story, but set the story line ten years later with creative storylines revolving the « magic world ». The game perfectly restores the enrollment process when the player becomes a freshman at Hogwarts.

It also brings player back to the classic scenarios such as the common rooms of four houses, the forbidden forest, Diagon Alley, the Quidditch field and many other familiar places. The creators also pay great tribute to the original story, such as meeting with the grown-up Harry on the Platform 9¾, using Hermione and Malfoy as allies. They even set up the Ollivanders wand shop, Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes, Gringotts and other classic shops.

During the game, players will encounter with traditional characters such as Professor McGonagall, Hagrid, Professor Snape and even Dobby. The combination of the classic but creative storyline with old and new characters brings brand new experiences to the super fans.

The images of game adopts the British retro picture book style, and the deep tones create a unique sense of mystery, which has the charm of Western magical style. The design of the cards in the game also continued the rough line style but having many exquisite details. With 2D moving creatures on the card, the players can easily attach themselves to the magic world since it is very normal for having moving characters in a magical painting.

The game began to attract even more players as it turns into one of the most heated topics on Chinese social media. With the opening of Universal Beijing Resort, people’s attention has already been drawn toward the famous IP “Harry Potter”. The marketing team of NetEase combined offline and online experiences to make this game a huge success.The smart marketing strategy followed by the wonderful gaming experience makes this game phenomenal. Soon afterwards, NetEase will also open up the global market as “Harry Potter” is a world-class IP with great international influences.