Genies, an AI avatar technology company, has partnered with King Records, the anime and music subsidiary of Japan's largest publishing group Kodansha, to transform King's characters into interactive AI companions. The collaboration will enable fans to build one-to-one relationships with characters whilst maintaining creative control and authenticity. The partnership will initially focus on "HYPNOSISMIC -Division Rap Battle-", King Records' multimedia franchise featuring 21 core characters that blend hip-hop, anime and music. The franchise recently released its first interactive film in Japan, selling over one million tickets, with a US debut scheduled for 27 February 2026. Genies' technology can create game-ready interactive assets in days rather than weeks whilst preserving original artistic styles. The company has raised $200 million from investors including Silver Lake and BOND.

Genies, an AI avatar technology company, has partnered with MLB Players Inc., the business arm of the Major League Baseball Players Association, to create interactive AI characters of MLB players. The collaboration will enable fans to engage directly with AI-powered avatars of baseball's biggest stars across digital platforms. The partnership transforms traditional fan experiences by allowing year-round interaction with players beyond game days. Genies will use its proprietary technology to auto-generate personality-driven avatars that fans can engage with across multiple digital touchpoints. "Our technology uniquely positions us to bring a wide variety of IP to life as interactive, embodied personas at a scale that has never been possible before," said Akash Nigam, Genies CEO and founder. The company has raised $200 million from investors including Silverlake, Bond and Bob Iger.

Genies has been investing heavily for this moment. The culture-focused avatar technology company is revealing its user-generated content tools that let anyone create custom AI avatars.Genies raised $150 million in 2022, and it has been busy ever since building out the tech stack for what it calls Parties, or gaming platforms driven by AI avatars, user-generated content, and personalized gameplay. In an exclusive interview, Genies CEO Akash Nigam gave GamesBeat a look under the hood at Genies’ technology that has been in the works for years with the hope of powering the next generation of digital experiences. While the tech is established, Nigam has never shown it off to a journalist before.“As you can see, the quality of it is very high. As far as just like the different kinds of business model that you could entertain here, you can foresee something like a commission fee or something like that for people who are creating these things,” Nigam said. “I can’t reveal the partners that we have onboarded, but they are tier one. They’re like the biggest ones in entertainment and gaming.”Akash Nigam is CEO of Genies, the maker of Parties.Nigam said the company was driven by the mantra where anyone should be able to create anything