Mr. Robot is one of those TV shows that like to rewards fans who dig deep into its cyberpunk rabbit hole of a story, usually by giving viewers on-air clues they can hunt on the internet, such as a QR code that leads to a fictional Reddit page.
The latest trick from the Emmy Award-winning show is an Amazon Alexa skill called "Mr. Robot: Daily Five/Nine." It was made possible by Earplay, a Boston startup led by video game industry veterans that creates interactive audio experiences akin to choose-your-own-adventure stories for Amazon Alexa, Google Home and mobile devices. All of Earplay's stories are fully voice acted and include branching paths depending on your response.
Inspired by the Five/Nine hack that destabilized the American economy in the show, the Mr. Robot Alexa skill is an interactive audio experience that USA Network, which airs the show, promises will provide a "mind-bending narrative of Mr. Robot like never before."
Early reviews call it a "very cool concept" and "wonderfully complex." The experience also appears to be fairly difficult, with several users on Reddit reporting multiple failed attempts.
This isn't the first time a Boston company has been associated with Mr. Robot. Previously, the show has used products by local cybersecurity companies Pwnie Express and Rapid7 as part of its goal to tell an authentic story about hackers.
Jonathon Myers, Earplay's CEO and founder, told BostInno that he first connected with members of USA's digital experiences team when he and Earplay Chief Creative Officer Dave Grossman, a LucasArts veteran, were giving a talk about interactive audio storytelling at USA Network and Syfy's office in New York for a private event.
Myers said the USA team members told him that Mr. Robot's creator, Sam Esmail, had an idea for an interactive audio adventure inspired by the show and its use of the Amazon Echo in the second season. Lucky for USA, Earplay had developed the software infrastructure and design skills needed to support such an experience.
"What happened is we know how to make the story happen on this platform," Myers said. "There was a concept, and we had the tools and design chops to make that come together."
Earplay had been down in New York for the annual Future of Storytelling festival, but the connection with USA Network was initially made possible through its participation in Betaworks' inaugural Voice Camp, a startup accelerator focused on verbal computing. Betaworks is a New York-based startup studio behind companies like Giphy and Tweetdeck.
Up until that point, Myers said he had "been talking to a lot of people for a long time" about working with Earplay, but the company had difficulty getting buy-in because its interactive audio experience platform had been unproven.
"It just felt like a device that was to meant to distribute what we were creating, even more so than mobile."
However, between the new Mr. Robot skill and Earplay's standalone skill on Alexa, the tide could be turning. The standalone skill, which includes access to multiple stories, has received an average rating of four-and-a-half stars from nearly 600 users, and Earplay has racked up a total of more than 300,000 users. The company is also working on new projects, including a role-playing game called Pugmire.
When Earplay was founded in 2013, the company made its first foray into interactive audio storytelling with an app for smartphones and tablets that included stories written by Myers and his team. But after Amazon revealed its Echo device and Alexa voice system in late 2014, Myers realized they would be a perfect fit for what Earplay was doing.
"It just felt like a device that was to meant to distribute what we were creating, even more so than mobile," Myers said.
