[Industry news] The game’s industry’s first player relationship platform arrives with the launch of FirstLook 1.0

This is a press release posted in addition to our usual editorial content.

FirstLook, the first and only player relationship platform built for the games industry, today officially launches with groundbreaking new features to transform games marketing for all studios and publishers with highlights including creator campaign management, community sentiment analysis, and a new free tier for indies.

Acquired by leading gaming infrastructure startup Pragma in 2025, FirstLook has already powered successful playtests and player onboarding for games from KRAFTON, Skybound and Bad Robot Games as well as dozens of the world’s hottest indie games such as music driven indie beat ’em up Dead As Disco by Brain Jar Games.

As it emerges for its official launch, FirstLook evolves its toolset from a primarily pre-launch marketing platform to a player engagement and relationship platform for the entire game lifecycle. FirstLook 1.0 encompasses everything studios need to connect with players, including playtests and feedback, communications, sentiment analysis, player analytics, rewards, and creator campaign management – all in one place.

Eden Chen, CEO of Pragma and FirstLook, commented: “Studios still lack a direct, lasting connection with the players they’re trying to serve. Without that relationship, validation, iteration, community growth, and retention become guesswork, forcing teams to rely on fragmented tools and workarounds. That changes with the launch of FirstLook 1.0. Today we power over 100  major studios, from indies to publishers like Krafton, ArenaNet, and Skybound, connecting millions of players with the developers who make the games they love.”

KRAFTON, publisher and developer of world renown PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS, used FirstLook to drive the development and launch strategy for MIMESIS, a title from them and ReLU Games. Kangseok Seo, Head of Publishing Platform PM, KRAFTON, commented: “It’s hard to imagine what would have happened without FirstLook. Their fast and efficient user testing ultimately led to the decision to move forward with the project’s release, and the game went on to achieve over one million copies sold.”

At launch, FirstLook 1.0 is expanding its already extensive set of tools with:

Creators

Campaign management made easy. FirstLook helps studios identify, onboard, and reward creators who drive engagement and growth. Track campaign performance, automate rewards, and manage programs across Twitch, YouTube, TikTok and more, all seamlessly integrated with the rest of the FirstLook player and marketing stack.

Sentiment

Learn and act on your community’s feedback. 1.0 aggregates player feedback across key community channels and automatically sorts and scores information to deliver a unified view, with insights from Discord, Steam Reviews and Discussions, and Surveys now all in one powerful dashboard.

Mobile platform support

Mobile developers can now leverage FirstLook playtesting and all other features with integrations with Apple App Store and Google Play. This expansion allows mobile studios to leverage high-fidelity player data to refine their core game loops as well as user engagement, acquisition and LiveOps strategies.

A free plan for indies

Indie studios can now access the entire FirstLook 1.0 feature set, with capabilities used by top-grossing publishers, completely free for up to 500 players. With over 70% of games on Steam selling fewer than 1,000 copies, FirstLook 1.0 will empower smaller developers to build and grow thriving player communities on their own.

Studios interested in joining over 100 developers and publishers already using FirstLook 1.0 – including Remedy Entertainment, System Era, Dreamhaven, Avalanche Studios, Build A Rocket Boy, 11 Bit Studios, and New Tales – can visit www.firstlook.gg to learn more.