Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery has made significant improvements in the last few weeks, including the introduction of friend encounters as well as the arrival of new year 3 content. Year 4 content is also being planned and will release soon, but fans of the game may have concerns about future content updates following a report that developer Jam City has suffered layoffs.

A report published by Gamasutra last week cites an anonymous source at Jam City that claims that the Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery developer recently laid off some employees. Although the source was unsure exactly how many employees the developer had let go, the report says that the layoffs may have been "sizable." The layoffs are also said to have affected TinyCo., a subsidiary of Jam City that developed superhero tie-in Marvel Avengers Academy as well as Futurama Worlds of Tomorrow and Family Guy: Quest for Stuff.

Although this may seem like bad news, it is reported that Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery will only be positively impacted by these changes. The source reveals that Jam City has been moving developers across to Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, beefing up the development staff on the game. It seems that the developer is readjusting its workforce in an effort to put more of a focus on the Harry Potter game. In comparison, just a "skeleton crew" of developers remains working on Futurama: Worlds of Tomorrow.

The report would suggest that Jam City recognizes the success of Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery and is eager to see that continue. Recent reports from an app analytics firm highlighted that the game had topped the app revenue charts in several regions, indicating that players are spending plenty of money on the game's microtransactions.

Moreover, Jam City has made somewhat of an effort to improve the game's microtransactions, tweaking the prices of in-game purchases after some fans voiced their concerns. This will help to draw new players into spending on the title while encouraging existing paying players to spend even more.

Jam City has teased big things for Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery in the future, including possible multiplayer content, and it has even entertained the idea of adding character romances too. The increased size of the development team will help make that happen, also helping the developer to significantly grow the game and its playerbase too.

Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery is available for Android and iOS devices.

Source: Gamasutra