Google, which just days ago announced a major restructuring initiative, revealed that very soon it will spin off Niantic Labs. The internet firm said it wants the game maker to stand as an independent company and expand its clients list.
Google continues restructuring
Google is doing a major restructuring of its business for making a clear distinction between its core and peripheral products, which include games and driverless cars. With the intention of separating the businesses within the company, Google created a holding company called Alphabet earlier this week. The move allows separate businesses to function more independently while still under a single umbrella.
“They’re now ready to accelerate their growth by becoming an independent company,” a Google spokesperson said.
Not much is known about the spin-off of Niantic Labs for now. The only information available is that Google will continue to act as backer and collaborator so that the game maker is able to reach out to bigger audiences for its products without much effort.
No information on Ingress based on TV show
Ingress, a popular game from Niantic, requires players to visit various landmarks that exist in the real world, which could be public sculptures or signs. Then they are required to “capture” them for their team by making use of various commands that are available on their smartphones.
Ingress has been downloaded more than 12 million times, and more than 250,000 people have attended the game-related events around the world. Niantic was also planning to make a television show based on the game, The Information reported in March. Since then, Google has not commented on it; therefore, it is unclear what implications this spin-off has on the show’s development, if it really is in development.
For the TV drama series based on Ingress, the internet firm reportedly partnered with The Sean Daniel Company, marking what would be Google’s first foray into television. In March, there were reports that the work on this project had already begun with The Sean Daniel Company meeting the writers and directors.
At around 10 a.m. Eastern today, Google shares were down 1.23% at $683.94, and year to date, the stock is up by almost 28%.
