Harry Potter is one of those beloved franchises that seems ripe for video games but hasn't made the impact in the medium that it's capable of. When the Harry Potter RPG footage first leaked at the beginning of 2018, it looked like fans were finally about to get the exact thing they've been asking for all of these years: a proper open-world RPG set in Hogwarts!
One year later, Warner Bros. hasn't uttered a single word on the Harry Potter RPG despite removing all traces of footage whenever it pops up online. However, that's not necessarily a bad thing. WB Games currently owns 11 development studios, many of which are working on unannounced projects or whose acquisition only took place in the last couple of years meaning they could easily be support studios for a much bigger game than expected. That begs the question: Which Warner Bros. studio is developing the Harry Potter RPG?
Avalanche Software
Best known as the studio behind the canceled Disney Infinity toys-to-life games, Avalanche Software was previously owned by Disney before being shut down in May 2016. WB Games reopened the studio in January 2017, where they continued working on the Cars 3 tie-in game, Cars 3: Driven to Win which released in June 2017. Since then, Avalanche has remained quiet with no new projects announced or advertised anywhere online.
What's also interesting about Avalanche Software is the fact the Harry Potter RPG rumor all started here, a full year before the original footage leaked online. A job listing was posted in January 2017 for Avalanche Software looking for a Senior Writer with a "deep understanding of British culture and grammatical presentation," for a new AAA game project. It's a stretch to reach Harry Potter but not one that's too outlandish.
Likelihood: Avalanche Software is a top pick as a support studio for the Harry Potter RPG but not as a lead developer.
Monolith Productions
Monolith Production was acquired by WB Games in 2004 and is best known for games likes F.E.A.R. series, the DC themed Team Fortress 2 knock-off Gotham City Imposters, and most notably for Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War. Monolith is the kind of developer that would normally rank pretty high as a prediction if it wasn't for timing. Monolith released Shadow of Mordor in November 2014 and the sequel, Shadow of War in October 2017, leaving less than 3 years between releases and only 4 months before the footage leaked. The Middle-Earth series has also done well critically and commercially, so it's unlikely that Monolith is developing anything other than a third game to finish the trilogy.
Likelihood: Monolith is a top developer and would do very well on a Harry Potter RPG if ithad the time.
Portkey Games
Portkey Games is another developer that would be a top contender for the Harry Potter RPG if it wasn't for a few small but crucial details. Founded by WB Games in 2017, Portkey Games was created purely to make games in the Wizarding World aka the Harry Potter expanded universe. However, Portkey Games is a mobile game developer, having released the mobile Harry Potter RPG, Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery in 2018 and the Pokemon Go-like mobile game, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite earlier this year.
Likelihood: Portkey Games has released two games in two years, both on mobile, meaning it's not very likely.
NetherRealm Studios
Founded in 2010, NetherRealm Studios is one of the best fighting game developers around having taken over the development of the Mortal Kombat franchise and created the DC spin-off, Injustice. In the 9 years since the studio opened, NetherRealm has released Mortal Kombat 9, MK10, and MK11, and launched a new franchise with Injustice: Gods Among Us, and its sequel, Injustice 2. NetherRealm's latest game, Mortal Kombat 11, released earlier this year and is currently one of the highest-selling games for all of 2019 so far.
Likelihood: Guerrilla Games did a fantastic job at switching genres, but this is just way too farfetched.
Rocksteady Studios
Easily the number one candidate right now is Rocksteady Studios. Rocksteady is best known for developing the Batman Arkham series, having worked on Batman: Arkham Asylum, Arkham City, Arkham Knight, and Arkham VR. Its last full-size AAA game was Arkham Knight which released in 2015 and the team has been quiet ever since, leading to heavy speculation across the industry on what their next game could be - would it be an original IP, more Batman, the many rumored Rocksteady games including Suicide Squad, Superman, and Justice League, or could it be another WB property like Harry Potter?
Likelihood: Nobody knows what Rocksteady has been working on since Arkham Knight and that makes it a strong contender for the Harry Potter RPG.
TT Games
TT Games was acquired by WB Games in 2007 are is best known for a variety of games that all follow a particular trend - LEGO. TT Games makes LEGO games based on popular franchises which include Harry Potter, as well as Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Jurassic World. TT Games next game, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, was announced during E3 2019 for release next year and is a brand new game based on the entire Star Wars franchise, featuring all 3 trilogies.
Likelihood: TT Games exclusively work on LEGO games and we already know what its next game is, so it's almost guaranteed not to be this developer.
WB Games Boston
Turbine Inc. was acquired by Warner Bros. in 2010 and rebranded as WB Games Boston. For the last few years, WB Games Boston has worked exclusively on mobile games such as 2017's Game of Thrones: Conquest. Being a mobile developer already makes the idea of WB Games Boston developing a console RPG very unlikely. Even if WB was going to put a mobile developer on a fully-fledged Harry Potter RPG for consoles and PC, it's far more likely that Wizards Unite developer, Portkey Games would be behind the game considering they were founded to make games based on the Wizarding World.
Likelihood: WB Games Boston isn't developing the Harry Potter RPG, that's for certain.
WB Games Montreal
Of WB Games 11 studios, Monolith and Rocksteady are two very capable studios that could make a game as complex as the Harry Potter RPG. WB Games Montreal would've been the third-highest potential developer if it wasn't for a clear Batman tease last week. WB Games Montreal made a name for themselves for developing Batman: Arkham Origins, a spin-off of the Arkham series made to fill the four-year gap between Rocksteady's mainline releases, Arkham City and Arkham Knight. WB Games Montreal has been quiet on Twitter for years, until last week where they released a number of images teasing a potential new Batman game based on the Court of Owls storyline.
Likelihood: WB Games Montreal would have the talent and the four-year gap to be developing a Harry Potter RPG if it wasn't obviously already making a Batman game.
WB Games New York
WB Games New York is almost certainly working on the Harry Potter RPG but not as the lead developer. Founded in 2017, WB Games New York is a relatively new team to the family and currently supports a variety of WB Games studios with building competitive and social features for games such as Mortal Kombat 11, Injustice 2, and Shadow of War.
Likelihood: WB Games New York are a support studio that's almost certainly supporting the Harry Potter RPG to some degree.
WB Games San Diego
WB Games San Diego is a brand new studio founded by Warner Bros. this year and it is currently hiring for a wide variety of different roles across the board. It's also confirmed knowledge that WB Games San Diego will be working on free-to-play mobile games, so there's simply no way this studio is even supporting with development on the Harry Potter RPG.
Likelihood: WB Games San Diego was only founded this year, so it’s absolutely not working on the Harry Potter RPG.
WB Games San Francisco
The final studio under the WB Games banner is yet another mobile developer. WB Games San Francisco work on a wide range of Warner Bros. owned properties including Harry Potter and DC. Just like with WB Games Boston, it's unlikely that even on the off chance that WB Games would put a mobile developer on the project, that it would be anyone other than the Harry Potter focused, Portkey Games. On top of that, San Francisco is a very expensive city and one where publishers usually avoid opening studios due to the high living cost. AAA games require large teams with a lot of staff, meaning the Harry Potter RPG would be a large risk.
Likelihood: Even if a mobile developer was working on the Harry Potter RPG, it's not WB Games San Francisco.
For now, all of these are nothing more than speculation based on the information that's available. WB Games has a wide roster of studios, but many of these studios are dedicated to set platforms or genres, and many more are yet to announce what they've been working on. The Harry Potter RPG footage is no longer available, yet we actually do know quite a lot about Harry Potter's story and setting.
Harry Potter RPG is rumored to be in development at WB Games for unknown platforms.