Since the core Harry Potter film series has come to a close, fans have also seen the Harry Potter video games dry up and fade away. Without a motion picture to attach a new game to, Warner Bros. simply hasn't seen fit to create any new titles. That may change when the Fantastic Beasts films are released, but considering that the Harry Potter movie tie-ins were generally terrible and didn't sell all that well, it's doubtful that Warner Bros. is going to release a new game anytime soon.

...but what if that wasn't the case?

What if, instead of Warner Bros. and EA pushing some cheap cash-in out the door, there was a company willing to innovate and put the effort into the Harry Potter titles? What if there was a company, seemingly loved by all, that could make the Harry Potter games a pillar of the industry? According to Unseen64.net, that was almost the case.

New information has revealed that, at one time, Nintendo was part of an auction for the Harry Potter licensing rights. That's right: Nintendo almost bought Harry Potter.

Way back in 1998, the Nintendo 64 was at the height of its popularity. A year earlier, the first in a series of fantasy novels called Harry Potter had been released, and subsequently exploded into a worldwide phenomenon. When it was announced that licensing rights to the series would be put up for auction, companies from around the world jumped at the chance, and Nintendo was one of them.

In order to create a pitch as quickly as possible, Nintendo put three other Nintendo 64 projects on hold. Nintendo's pitch wasn't just going to be a single game - in fact, there would be two projects to show J.K. Rowling. The first would be a tradtional third-person action-adventure, while the other would be dedicated entirely to Quidditch. If the company acquired the rights, it wouldn't stop there: Nintendo was hoping to extend the series to its next console, even though it was still over three years away.

Of course, creating such a pitch in a short amount of time is no easy task, and disputes over the game's art style began to take their toll. Nintendo wanted something with a more Japanese flavor, while the team and Rowling herself wanted to keep the British flavor of the novel intact. Eventually, the pitch was finished...but it wasn't enough.

Rowling would decline Nintendo's offer simply because there was one thing that other companies could offer her that Nintendo could not: a film franchise. Nintendo was limited to strictly video games (especially following the disastrous Super Mario Brothers film), where studios like Universal and Warner Bros. could offer multimedia empires.

Eventually, Warner Bros. was chosen, and the company would use Electronic Arts to produce tie-in titles for all of the major motion picture releases. Aside from a few bright spots, the titles were all trash, and fans would have to turn to the Lego Harry Potter titles for anything worthwhile.

It's painful to know that one of the greatest companies in the video game industry missed out on one of the greatest fantasy franchises ever. Think about it: there could have been an entire library of amazing Nintendo Harry Potter games, instead of the shovelware the EA produced.

If that's not the definition of tragedy, then what is?