But going forward the campaign will interweave with the future novels - and events that take place in the 'real world' as readers and players engage with the ARG will affect the story of the upcoming books.

The initial round of the ARG will serve almost as a prequel, setting up the events of the first book. 'This is not marketing, it's a real important storyline in the universe.' 'A lot of the things that have been done in the past in this kind of realm have been marketing for other things,' says Stewartson. But Frey and Niantic are aspiring to something much deeper than previous ARGs. Having worked on alternate-reality campaigns for years (his past projects include 'I Love Bees' for Halo 2, 'Why So Serious' for The Dark Knight, and Year Zero for the Nine Inch Nails album of the same name), Stewartson was a natural pick for Hanke to recruit to and lead Niantic’s group for Endgame.

'He had this whole thing conceived of as a never-before-done experience across all these media.' 'Frey’s vision was to do this as a book and game and a movie all together, and to use social media as a way to extend the universe and make it a place where people could really live within the game universe,' says Niantic head John Hanke. That goal comes directly from Frey, the mastermind behind Endgame who sought out Niantic to help him fully develop his universe. ' had this whole thing conceived of as a never-before-done experience across all these media.' 'In this case… all of these things are connected together in a really fundamental way.' 'Lots of people have done things in this direction, but the connection between those is usually fairly thin,' says Niantic’s Jim Stewartson. It’s not uncommon for movies or books to build universes around themselves with the internet, apps, or games - but in the case of Endgame, these seemingly secondary pieces are being positioned as parts of the story just as essential as Frey’s novel. 'all of these things are connected together in a really fundamental way.' That game is the result of an intense, ongoing collaboration between Frey and Niantic, a group that is already intimately familiar with alternate reality thanks to its mobile game Ingress. Endgame: The Calling (by James Frey and Nils Johnson-Shelton) is now available, and the alternate-reality game will kick off tonight at the Endgame launch party in New York City.

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