Building scalable live service video games with Eden Chen, CEO of Pragma

On this episode of Story Mode with Sanlo, where we talk to executives about the video game industry, we chat with Eden Chen, Co-founder & CEO of Pragma, about building scalable live services games and the challenges and opportunities in that space. Olya and Eden touch on a range of interesting topics, including: • How Eden’s experience as a professional gamer inspired him to build Pragma. • The opportunities in the market that Eden and his team are tackling. • The criteria games studios use to decide what back-end infra they build in-house versus what they license from tech platforms like Pragma • Why Pragma focused on building a flexible engine opposed to a one-size-fits-all approach. • The market opportunities and total addressable markets for servicing mobile studios or PC/Console studios. • How Eden defines cross-platform and the evolution of cross-platform discovery and gameplay. • A checklist of what factors a studio should think through as they look to expand into cross-platform to define what tech and features they need. • How back-end solution needs differ depending on the type of game. • The biggest catalysts for cross-platform development and the role played by Epic Games and Fortnite. • The different era of gaming that is being led by GenZ players and their lack of loyalty to specific devices or platforms. • The role of analytics in deciding if and how to expand to multiple platforms. • The growing trend of mobile games expanding to PC and Console. About Eden Eden is the Founder and CEO of Pragma—a fully scalable and extensible backend engine that powers live service games. Eden and his team of engineering leaders—who previously built the platforms behind some of the largest games like League of Legends, Valorant, and Destiny 2—are focused on helping studios build successful live service games. Before Pragma, Eden co-founded Fishermen Labs, an AR and VR development studio that became one of the fastest-growing companies in Los Angeles. In addition to his work at Pragma, Eden has an impressive portfolio as an investor and advisor, backing game studios like Frost Giant, Mountaintop, and Lightforge Games.