We are excited to announce Pragma’s acquisition of FirstLook!

This move marks another big step in our mission to empower game studios and improve their chances of success. We already help studios get to market faster, cheaper, and more reliably with the Pragma engine, and now we can enable them to engage and expand their player communities like never before. 

Our Founder and CEO Eden Chen first met with Robert van Hoesel and Rene Klacan of FirstLook to advise them on fundraising for their playtesting and community management tool. The conversations developed from general advice to integrations, and we realized that having FirstLook join Pragma would unlock unique ways to support studios as they develop and launch their games.

FirstLook provides the industry’s best community management tools, allowing developers to build player communities while controlling a game’s entire playtesting lifecycle. It gives developers everything they need to jumpstart their Discord, distribute codes, onboard testers, collect feedback, collaborate with content creators, provide game updates, distribute in-game rewards, and more. 

Developers already using Pragma will be able to use FirstLook to reward entitlements to players and manage limited-access events seamlessly. Later this month, FirstLook will launch even more playtesting features, including additional content-creator management features and in-game rewards with cross-platform access, allowing players to jump from platform to platform at will.

Since launching in late 2024, over 100,000 playtesters have used FirstLook to onboard into playtests by 30+ studios, and we’re planning for another 350,000 players within the next few months.

This is just the beginning. Everyone who’s worked with Rene and Robert knows they move fast, so we are excited to see FirstLook quickly evolve. We at Pragma are thrilled to have them on board.

To all the developers, community managers, and players, this is for you. We’re all making great online experiences together.