Verizon 5G, 30 Ninjas to launch AR adventure thriller

Verizon and Doug Liman’s 30 Ninjas, in association with France-based immersive studio Novelab, announced at SXSW that they are working together on an Augmented Reality (AR) Adventure Thriller that will take full advantage of the power of 5G Ultra Wideband for an unbelievable immersive experience.

The result of this collaboration is Helios (which translates to Sun in Greek), a narrative mobile AR adventure that uses volumetric video (a fancy word for modern 3D holograms) to give you a new perspective on mobile entertainment.

As you play, a thriller unfolds of a missing sister, a coverup, a hacktivist who has double crossed the wrong bad guy and a young woman named Petra Barnes. You must navigate the story by piecing clues together to gain information and uncover the mystery. But let’s not spoil too much.

“I started 30 Ninjas with Julina Tatlock and Jed Weintrob for precisely this type of project and partnership with Verizon,” said Doug Liman, co-founder and partner of 30 Ninjas. “We’re drawing on everything we know about making great entertainment and applying it to an entirely new medium. One with that you carry with you everywhere. Given the chance to build new worlds on the most powerful phones, untethered from home internet: The Mobile Metaverse has limitless potential.”

Your 5G phone is the portal to the metaverse. Players move around an augmented version of their personal physical space (home, apartment, office, street corner) to hack “glitches” in their space. As the player hacks their way through the first level of information they unravel more clues (audio, visual, and text) and discover the conspiracy goes even deeper. Once the glitches are hacked they will unlock more narrative.

"Verizon and 30 Ninjas’ 5G content collaboration blends industry-leading storytelling with next-gen technology,” said Erin McPherson, chief content officer at Verizon. “We’re thrilled to work together to create a captivating interactive thriller that showcases the evolution of mobile entertainment and the capabilities that we can unlock in our smartphones on Verizon’s 5G network.”

Helios will deliver high-octane cinematic video content, augmented-reality puzzle-solving and game mechanics, and lifelike 3D AR characters that users can virtually interact with. The low latency and high-capacity of Verizon's 5G Ultra Wideband network will enable seamless interactivity, fast download speeds, and high-quality visuals to invite the user into a truly immersive narrative that expertly blends cinematic storytelling with interactive gamification.

Helios will launch for Android and iOS 5G-capable smartphones this fall.