It’s been a big week for our favorite bespectacled Brit with the release of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. We recently reported that fans were so stoked on Harry Potter happenings that they petitioned game makers Niantic to create a Harry Potter version of Pokemon Go. According to reports from well-respected news sites like Hello Giggles and Uproxx, Niantic had caved in and announced they’d be making Harry Potter Go.
Unfortunately, Harry Potter Go just isn’t happening — at least not right now.
Gizmodo first pointed out that most of the articles about Harry Potter Go point back to Hello Giggles. If you look at Hello Giggles’ source, you’ll notice a site called JTXH News. The website cites an interview from game developer Marcus Figueroa. Marcus Figueroa does not exist. A quick Google search shows that all mentions of Marcus Figueroa only link back to the fake news article. If you click the link cited on JTXH News, the website doesn’t load, and you get an error.
Any Pokemon fan should have been tipped off when John Hanke, Niantic’s founder, wasn’t mentioned in the article at all. Hanke is known for handling most of the interviews for the company, and would certainly be the one to announce something as important as a new product.
Moreover, JTXH News looks totally fake. It’s kind of amazing how they fooled so many people. It’s pretty unlikely some webpage you’ve never heard of using a standard looking WordPress template is going to get exclusive, ground-breaking news. Niantic would probably just release that info on their own social accounts or in the very least, hit up a major tech site like Gizmodo or Kotaku for the exclusive. Also, JTXH News’ homepage is completely blank — completely blank.
Sorry guys, but you were totally hoodwinked.
