Japanese Fuji Television Network has acquired an interest in Niantic, the U.S. company behind the popular augmented-reality game Ingress, as it seeks to create attractive content amid shrinking TV viewership in Japan. The Fuji Media Holdings group company is considering producing an animated program and variety shows based on Ingress and other games. It also plans to develop new game titles and events together. The investment is estimated at several hundred million yen (100 million yen equals $885,000).
Ingress is a turf war game in which players use GPS to visit real-life places, and boasts over 14 million downloads worldwide. The game is popular in Japan and other parts of Asia, and Fuji TV plans to export envisioned shows to such markets as Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. Niantic was founded in 2015 after an internal Google startup was spun off. The California company received financing last autumn from Google, Nintendo and video game developer Pokemon.
Source: NikkeiAsianReview
