Gamescom this summer marked a significant public shift for Pragma, the Los Angeles-based backend infrastructure platform. In February, the company acquired FirstLook, enhancing its capabilities with discoverability and marketing tools tailored for game studios. CEO Eden Chen and his team made their presence known in Cologne with FirstLook’s inaugural consumer-facing booth, a collaborative space that showcased seven studios, allowing them to bask in the limelight.
This venture underscores Chen’s belief that the gaming industry faces its greatest hurdles not in game development but in visibility. In a landscape increasingly dominated by live-service behemoths and dwindling player attention spans, the challenge of discovery and re-engagement has become paramount. Pragma is now concentrating on the broader gaming ecosystem—encompassing Discord communities, influencer partnerships, sentiment analysis, and playtesting—while equipping studios with the tools necessary to connect their games with the right audiences.
“This year we launched our own player network,” Chen shared during our conversation about his vision. “This initiative allows us to provide playtesters to studios and eventually act as a matchmaker between studios and players. Our success hinges on the success of the studios we support.”
Chen distinguishes FirstLook’s role from platforms like Steam or console stores, emphasizing that they are not direct competitors. “Those platforms primarily cater to consumers, focusing on enhancing the player experience. While there are instances where player and studio interests align, there are also times when they diverge,” he explained. “Our mission is to advocate for studios. With our player network, we aim to improve matchmaking for our partners.”
Taking to the show floor
This philosophy led to FirstLook’s decision to engage with the public at Gamescom for the first time. Previously, their focus had been strictly B2B, but this year marked a departure. “Many of our studios expressed that it was too costly for them to secure their own booths,” Chen noted, explaining the rationale behind their presence in the consumer halls. “With over 100 studios in our portfolio, we frequently heard this request. They want to showcase their work at Gamescom, but the financial burden is significant.”
In response, FirstLook secured a booth and offered it as a service to their studios. The seven games featured were a testament to creativity, each vying to introduce new intellectual properties to gamers. The titles making their Gamescom debut included:
- Gods, Death & Reapers from Wolcen Studio (“hardcore, reminiscent of a ‘Diablo’ style!”)
- The Holdouts from Ruckus
- Cloudheim from Noodle Cat Games
- Last Flag from Night Street Games
- Starlight Revolver from Pahdo Labs
- The Signal from Goosebyte
- Dead as Disco from Brain Jar Games (“a captivating music game”)
“It doesn’t matter if your game has a 0 million budget or if you’re a duo developing it in your garage,” Chen remarked. “The noise in the market is overwhelming, and everyone is striving to capture player attention.”
FirstLook’s booth provided an interactive space where attendees could playtest the showcased games. The initiative proved successful, prompting aspirations for an even grander presence in 2026. “At the center of our booth, we featured a four-person back-to-back area for cooperative or competitive gameplay,” Chen explained. “Typically, booths showcase one game at a time, but our ‘playtest together’ concept resonated well. Next year, we plan to triple our space and potentially host one of the largest booths, featuring 20 studios.”
Sharing the spotlight
Pragma and FirstLook collaborate with over 100 studios, ranging from small teams of five to ten to larger entities like Bungie, Sony, and EA. This breadth of experience allows Chen to address a critical industry challenge: a saturated and consolidated market. Major platforms and enduring franchises like Fortnite and Roblox dominate player engagement and spending.
<p“Shifts over time have led to significant struggles within the industry,” he noted. “We are operating in a mature market where the transition to live services has resulted in a few franchises capturing the majority of player interest. Platforms like Roblox have eclipsed Steam in terms of player engagement. The available player supply is dwindling, compounded by competition from platforms like TikTok and various media outlets flooding consumers with choices. This evolution has persisted for a decade, making it increasingly difficult for independent studios to stand out.”
Chen pointed out that securing funding for new content and intellectual properties has never been more challenging. “Few major publishers are investing in new content,” he stated. “While independent and micro publishers are emerging with smaller deals, the larger players like Activision and 2K are not pursuing new IP due to perceived risks.”
Yet, Chen remains optimistic. He envisions a future where small teams, perhaps working on games as side projects, can still achieve success. “It’s encouraging to see strong indie titles emerging over the past year or so,” he affirmed. “Games like REPO and Schedule 1 from small teams have made significant impacts. The reality is that more people are playing games than ever before, and spending on games is at an all-time high. If you create a quality game and manage to get it in front of players, the opportunities are vast.”
Breaking through in a saturated market
This is where Pragma and FirstLook step in, assisting studios in navigating the complex landscape. Initially, Pragma focused on providing infrastructure production tools, recognizing the high costs associated with building online games. However, with the acquisition of FirstLook, the emphasis has shifted towards addressing the discovery dilemma: player onboarding, playtesting, influencer management, sentiment tracking, and re-engagement tools.
<p“Our decision to acquire FirstLook stemmed from the high failure rates we observed among the studios we supported,” Chen admitted. “Our mission is to create tools that enable studios to thrive. If we only focus on production, we address only half of the equation. If no one plays the game, we aren’t contributing to their success. This motivated us to explore how we could assist studios in overcoming various barriers.”
Chen’s team recognizes that developers may not possess expertise in social media content, influencer management, or community engagement. Their tools are crafted to manage the entire ecosystem from a unified marketing stack.
“What’s the strategy for Reddit? How do we approach Discord? What about TikTok? There’s an overwhelming amount of information to navigate,” he said. “While studios excel at game production, the shift towards marketing presents a formidable challenge. We can assist them in onboarding thousands of creators and distributing Steam keys, as well as helping them engage with their fanbase and understand player sentiment.”
Chen provided examples of their innovative approaches: “One initiative involves integrating a fulfillment provider, allowing studios to drop-ship physical items to gamers who refer others or reach specific milestones. There are numerous engaging strategies we can implement programmatically, which a lone studio might struggle to execute independently.”
There’s a lot of noise out there, and everyone’s trying to figure out how to get in front of players.
Eden Chen
As our discussion shifted to the topic of generative AI, particularly Large Language Models, Chen acknowledged their relevance in marketing—not only for content creation but also for sentiment analysis, which can enhance player feedback. “We utilize a combination of LLMs and machine learning,” he explained. “Sentiment analysis has traditionally relied on machine learning. LLMs excel at understanding language and context. Ultimately, AI is just another technological tool. When applied to analysis, it serves to benchmark data effectively.”
From infrastructure to discovery
“Our goal is to create every marketing asset a studio could need,” Chen revealed when discussing FirstLook’s future roadmap. The service currently generates marketing email templates and graphics while facilitating creator onboarding. Next, they aim to develop community hubs that integrate social media platforms like Twitch and YouTube alongside in-game statistics. “Eventually, we envision a scenario where a studio can upload assets in just 30 minutes and receive all the marketing materials they require—a website, merchandise store, and web store,” he elaborated.
This evolution reflects FirstLook’s historical focus on out-of-game systems, such as Discord and Reddit, while Pragma has concentrated on in-game functionalities like authentication and purchases. “I foresee a future where we integrate these services, allowing us to view a player holistically from both in-game and out-of-game perspectives,” Chen stated.
This integration could unlock re-engagement opportunities reminiscent of manual processes from earlier MMO days. “In the past, if our guild faced an attack, we would rally our friends through instant messaging,” he reminisced. “Now, we can automate these in-game functions: if a guild is under siege, notifications can be sent via Discord, or players can be alerted when their clan is surpassed on leaderboards. If a game like Helldivers reaches a milestone, we can prompt players to join in on the action.”
“If a player hasn’t logged in for three months, we can send personalized offers to entice them back. Alternatively, we can celebrate player milestones with congratulatory messages and rewards. These strategies are intriguing avenues that remain largely untapped, yet they hold the potential to enhance fan engagement, retention, and re-engagement.”
Chen’s background as a competitive gamer informs his perspective. Before leading Pragma, he was a semi-professional gamer. “For me, many of my friends have transitioned from playing games to creating them. I still game weekly with friends from high school. My passion for the gaming industry drives me to advocate for independent creators in a landscape dominated by major platforms. Our mission is to empower independent games to thrive.”
