Niantic Partnering with AT&T, Simon for Harry Potter: Wizards Unite

Harry Potter: Wizards Unite just launched last week, and Niantic is already announcing a partnership with AT&T and Simon for a set of events centered around real-world locations.

For a limited time, Wizards Unite players can earn additional rewards and find more foes than usual at Inns and Fortresses around more than 10,000 AT&T and Cricket Wireless retail locations.

The sponsored AT&T locations will give players more XP and Spell Energy than usual. That’s on top of the already-announced Spell Energy increase to boot, and our handy Wizards Unite Spell Energy guide can help you get even more from these locations.

Both AT&T and Cricket Wireless locations will also host special, exclusive quests to help players level up even faster.

The event’s start date is staggered depending on the retail location. The AT&T portion of the event started June 21, while Cricket Wireless stores will begin participating on July 15.

However, Simon Malls, Mills, and Premium Outlet locations have already begun their part in the event. U.S. players can visit one of the many Simon locations in the country to earn more XP and Spell Energy from Inns and have the chance to encounter hard-to-find enemies as well.

The idea behind both sets of events is encouraging people to explore their surroundings, just like with Pokemon GO. Omar Tellez, Niantic’s Vice President of Strategic Partnerships, said:

Real world games like Harry Potter: Wizards Unite are all about engaging with the world around you, creating new and unique opportunities for players to interact within their neighborhoods, towns and cities like never-before.

To that end, AT&T and Simon will both be taking part in future events connected to Wizards Unite as well, such as offering special QR quests. It’s potentially good news for some players as well since events that take advantage of commonplace retail stores like these are also Niantic’s way of combating the ever-present problem of empty game worlds in rural areas.

For more on HP: Wizards Unite, be sure to head over to our growing guides page for the game, which has info on changing your codename and the game’s professions.