Google’s cult AR video game Ingress could expand its reach to television, according to reports on Wednesday.
The Information’s sources (via The Verge) claim Google and its in-house game studio Niantic Labs is working with production firm, the Sean Daniel Company, in order to develop the concept for TV.
That’s the company behind The Mummy movie franchise and a new show The Expanse, a miniseries about to debut on the ScyFy network in the United States.
For those unfamiliar with Ingress, the science-fiction game involves gamers on iOS and Android traveling to actual locations (landmarks, monuments, etc) called ‘portals’ as if they were working as real world operatives.
The game launched as a closed beta for Android in late 2012, before going public in December 2013. An iOS release came in July last year and, just recently, Niantic launched an Android Wear version of the game. It has been downloaded more than ten million 10 million times.
Read more: Best Android games 2015
The idea behind the TV show would be to expand upon the game’s universe and, according to the report, “elements of the show would influence gameplay.”
Niantic already posts a host of YouTube-based tutorials and fictional news reports to to accompany the game. The company is also attempting to organise a convention as Ingress meet ups currently pull in thousands of attendees.
The report says, Google is looking for a traditional broadcast TV partner or a streaming platform like Netflix to back the idea.
Here’s a look at the game in the video below
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
