Google’s Daydream will have a J.K. Rowling Fantastic Beasts VR app

Google announced today that its Daydream virtual reality platform will have an app based on Warner Bros.’ Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, an upcoming movie based on the work of Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling.

The VR experience will use Google’s newly announced headset, Google’s Daydream View, which debuts in November for $79 and works with the company’s new smartphone, the Google Pixel. It also uses the Daydream controller, which is a handheld wand-like device for navigating in VR.

Fantastic Beasts will let you be a wizard waving around a wand, casting spells within VR.

Fantastic Beasts in Daydream VR
Fantastic Beasts in Daydream VR

“We love virtual reality,” said Google’s Clay Bevor, head of VR at Google. “For us, it’s not just a technology. It’s not just another screen. It can put you someplace else.”

Google has more than 50 apps coming by the end of the year from partners, and hundreds more are in the works. Other partners include CCP, which is making Eve: Gunjack, a sci-fi cockpit shooter game. Netflix, Hulu, and HBO are also making apps, as is the New York Times.

CCP's Gunjack 2 game for Daydream VR.
CCP’s Gunjack 2 game for Daydream VR.

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.