Augmented Reality Game 'Harry Potter: Wizards Unite' Launches Early on iOS App Store

[DotCom2]

Well its a free download. How else do you expect them to make money?

Haven't you heard? It's not FREE, it's FREEMIUM.
You buy coins.

 

[CarlJ]

Why would you need an account to play a game. Tracking

What? Pretty much any game that implements a persistent shared world (MMO's and such) needs an account. Ingress, Pokemon Go, and Wizards Unite are games with a persistent shared world. Niantic started as part of Google, so they used Google accounts exclusively for a long time as a sign-on method. They added Facebook because some weren't happy with only Google as a choice (yes, it would have been better for us if they had added an independent in-house signup method where you simply provide an email address and a password - they make lots of other mistakes too). This isn't so much about tracking as it is about outsourcing the account management.
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Buy making you buy ingame stuff? Like Pokémon coins in Pokémon Go?

Wizards Unite offers the same "opportunities" to buy in-game stuff that Pokémon Go does. And uses the same login system (Google/Facebook) that Pokémon Go does.

 

[BornAgainMac]

I am going to wait until Apple Arcade comes out. Tired of getting tracked and micro transactions and stupid ads.

 

[SBlue1]

Well freemium games can be played without paying a Cent. So selling the data is the logical option.

I am not defending tracking. I just wanna explain why it exists.

 

[tothemoonsands]

What is with you people and this “tracking”? What do you mean by that? Track what? You’re unimportant, who cares about your location or whatever, it’s just another sales pitch for masses. Never in my life I encountered anything to do with Google or FB “tracking”. Especially FB, if they track me, well, they do hella bad job, they can’t even display ads in the language I'm speaking.

Below is a list of what you give up when you install a Niantic game on your android device (assume it is roughly similar to iPhone). That aside, the founder of Niantic has ties to the venture capital firm of the CIA, In-Q-Tel.

It's not that anyone is particularly important, but why give out information to people when you don't have to? With Apple's login, you don't have to anymore.

Identity

• Find accounts on the device

Contacts

• Find accounts on the device

Location

• Precise location (GPS and network-based)
• Approximate location (network-based)

Photos/Media/Files

• Modify or delete the contents of your USB storage
• Read the contents of your USB storage

Storage

• Modify or delete the contents of your USB storage
• Read the contents of your USB storage

Camera

• Take pictures and videos

Other

• Receive data from the internet
• Control vibration
• Pair with Bluetooth devices
• Access Bluetooth settings
• Full network access
• Use accounts on the device
• View network connections
• Prevent the device from sleeping

 

[BlankStar]

I've played it yesterday for the first time and likes it a lot. Haven't felt the need to spend some cash just yet.

It's fun, and in the end, isn't that the most important thing?