After a year in beta testing, the augmented-reality game “Ingress” is now available to the public for download on Android mobile devices worldwide. The game, which was created by Google through its Niantic Labs internal incubator, hosted 14 worldwide events over the weekend before launching. More than one million people have downloaded “Ingress,” and its creators are looking to expand with advertising and turning it into a platform anyone can use to build their own game.

“An open real-world gaming platform has been Ingress’ goal from the beginning,” according to The Verge.

“You can think of ‘Ingress’ in some ways as a proof of concept,” said John Hanke, the co-creator of Google Earth who launched Niantic as an internal incubator with Google. “With ‘Ingress’ we’ve proven that people can have fun, that there’s a kernel of something powerful in a game that gets you out moving. And ‘Ingress’ is just one example of the type of game in that genre that you could build.”

Players like Linda Besh, a 51-year-old financial analyst prove the game’s addictiveness. “I was getting in trouble at work, because I was on my phone so much during the day,” Besh tells The Verge.

With such devoted players — including thousands of “hardcore” players — it makes for a good advertising opportunity. According to the article, Jamba Juice, Vodafone and Duane Reade have all signed up to offer in-game goods to players who visit their physical locations, capturing the spirit of getting gamers moving.

“Right now, Hanke is characterizing the ad deals as experiments,” explains The Verge. “And the team is analyzing results from the first year to fine-tune future in-game ad products.”

“I think it will end up working, but we’re doing our homework,” Hanke says. The next step for Niantic Labs is determining how to take various elements of “Ingress” and put them together into a “series of APIs that will entice other game developers.” Hanke says the idea is to explore the concept of sponsors being able to get exposure across “a wide number of titles, but have a consolidated entry point for them.”