Dan Morris has joined Niantic as director of developer relations. The 20-year industry veteran will lead the charge to expand the developer community approaching the public release of the Lightship ARDK.

Morris leaves the position of head of developer relations at Facebook Reality Labs, where he spent six years working closely with XR developers to make Oculus a successful platform for developers of all kinds. His previous experiences include partnerships and strategy roles at DeNA/Ngmoco and Electronic Arts.

"There's no other job in the world that I would have left for but this one," Morris said. "Niantic's technology unlocks something magical and uniquely exciting – an ability for people to enjoy AR experiences together, out in the real world, on whichever devices they're carrying. Pokémon GO players are already living this, and the Lightship ARDK will enable third-party developers to build their own creations on top of our foundation.”

He encourages developers yet to sign up for the ARDK private beta at Niantic.dev saying, "This is a planet-sized opportunity for thousands of developers, given the size of the global smartphone installed base. Apps built with Lightship are going to change the world, and I'm really eager to get developers underway on their journey."