Harry Potter spin-off films will get game adaptations

Warner Bros. today announced (via Deadline) a new series of Harry Potter spin-off films based on the Hogwarts textbook Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them written by fictional author Newt Scamander, and said these properties will be developed into games as well.

J.K. Rowling will make her screenwriting debut for the Fantastic Beasts films. The story will be original and set in the wizarding world, though it is not a sequel nor a prequel to the Harry Potter universe, but rather an extension of the fiction.

Fantastic Beasts will start in New York, 70 years before Harry Potter's story begins.

Video games based on the popular Harry Potter films were developed and published by Electronic Arts. It is unclear if Warner Bros. will develop the new Fantastic Beasts games internally through its Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment label or license them out.

No release date for the theatrical release of the first Fantastic Beasts movie was announced, nor were details regarding platforms for the tie-in games.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was first mentioned in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone as a required textbook for Hogwarts students. J.K. Rowling released a real-world version of the book in 2001 to support the Comic Relief charity.

The most recent Harry Potter game was 2012's Kinect-required Harry Potter for Kinect.