Niantic Labs To Release James Frey AR Game

It’s been a while since we heard anything from Google’s Niantic Labs, which developed the augmented reality MMO Ingress, but on Wednesday, Mountain View announced a new collaboration between Niantic, HarperCollins, 20^th Century Fox and A Million Little Pieces author James Frey. 

Frey is putting out a new book series called ENDGAME, billed as a trilogy for young adults, and Niantic Labs will be partnering with HarperCollins to create a location-based game for the series.

"We are excited to work with James Frey and Full Fathom Five on this groundbreaking series," said Brian Murray, President and CEO, HarperCollins Publishers. "This is a spectacular story that embodies the future of publishing—great content, interactivity and a multimedia experience."  

In addition to the augmented reality game to be based on the book series, Google has also put in place a deal to distribute six e-books based on ENDGAME through the Play Store.

"I'm thrilled to be working with HarperCollins, 20th Century Fox, and Google Niantic on the ENDGAME series. We're doing something really amazing, really new, something readers are going to love. The whole project is a dream come true, and as far as I'm concerned, October can't come soon enough," James Frey said.

HarperCollins says the first book in the series will be called ENDGAME: THE CALLING and will be released on October 7 along with the official Android and iOS games from Niantic. All together, ENDGAME is slated to include three full books, nine digital novellas and will be released simultaneously in more than 30 languages. 

20^th Century Fox has already optioned the rights to the book series, so Frey fans can probably expect a PG-13 trilogy of films sometime in the coming years.

"ENDGAME is an innovative omni-platform endeavor, and we at 20th Century Fox are thrilled and committed to work with HarperCollins, and Google Niantic Labs to bring James Frey's groundbreaking franchise to audiences around the world," said Emma Watts, president of production, 20th Century Fox.