- Harry Potter: Magic Awakened is shutting down
- The card-battling deckbuilder will go offline in all territories except Asia
- A NetEase publishing deal seems to be keeping it afloat
Deckbuilding card-battler Harry Potter: Magic Awakened is set to shut down in America, Europe and Oceania. However, it will remain available in China and much of the East, ostensibly thanks to the ongoing NetEase publishing deal. In-app purchases have already been closed, and the servers will shut down on October 29th of this year and the game has already been removed from all storefronts.
Magic Awakened released back in 2023, however, it’s now joined an unfortunate lineup of games that have faced the axe this year. It certainly raises a lot of questions about the popularity of the enduring HP franchise, and the strength of NetEase to keep things going for however long they’ve arranged for.
Still, it’ll be a bit of a disappointment for a lot of players, especially given that other games like Brave Nine have at least managed to make arrangements to let players continue to enjoy the game offline. I suppose the magic just isn’t there to facilitate that when it comes to Magic Awakened.
And beyond
And before you ask, no, you can’t just transfer to another server. The drawbacks of live service games, eh? It’s a bit odd to think that I’ve grown up seeing the move from mobile games where the idea of a consistent internet connection was a pipe dream, to that being standard, and all the pitfalls it involves. Then again, competition is more prevalent than ever.
Still, there are sure to be plenty of games out there that’ll be available long after the servers have shuttered. You can find some of them on our massive list of the best mobile games of 2024 (so far)!
Better yet, especially for the budget-conscious gamer, why not check out our other list of the top 25 free-to-play mobile games on iOS and Android?