How online game backends work
Chris Cobb
Welcome to the Pragma blog
What we'll be writing about, who it's for, and what to expect from us.
Sep 30, 2026 · 2 min read
Joe Geraghty
GM, Pragma Engine
Hi, I'm Joe, the GM of Pragma Engine, and I wanted to open the new blog with a quick note on why we're doing it.
The Pragma Engine is at the heart of Pragma. It was our first tool - designed and built to provide developers with a better experience building their games. But being a backend tool means sometimes hiding a bit in the shadows and it is time to come out of those shadows and help the developer community with additional content.
We've technically had a blog before, but it couldn’t keep up (or maybe we couldn't keep up with it). So we cleared the slate and started over.
Why write at all?
Most of what the industry knows about game backends is learned the hard way, on launch day. Login queues that blow up, matchmaking that stalls, and databases that fall over at exactly the wrong moment. Those lessons usually get passed along as war stories at conferences or in DMs, but rarely get written down.
We've spent years building and running backends for studios of every size: small teams shipping their first multiplayer game, and launches with more than 400,000 concurrent players. Our team has witnessed the highs and lows of game building and we'd rather share what we have learned than keep it to ourselves.
What to expect
Behind the Game: Backend Essentials. We are kicking things off with a great series from Chris Cobb, our co-founder and CTO, on the places online backends break: login queues, observability, matchmaking, player data, analytics and more. Each episode covers why the problem matters, how it fails, and what you can do about it, whether or not you use Pragma. Episode 1 is live now.
Guides. Practical, evergreen pieces for the people making backend decisions: build versus buy, preparing for launch, cross-play, and what "scale" actually means for your game.
News. Engine releases, and events like the Online Services Summit in Stockholm this November.
Customer stories. How studios like Bulkhead, Omeda, and Gardens ship on Pragma. You'll find those in our case studies.
We will work hard to keep you informed with regular content and updates and if there's a topic you'd like us to cover, or a backend problem you're stuck on, get in touch. We read everything.
Thanks for reading. Keep building great games!
Joe
About the author
Joe Geraghty
GM, Pragma Engine
Joe runs Pragma Engine, the backend game engine studios use to build and run online games. Pragma has launched many of the most exciting independent games in recent years, including Wardogs that peaked over 400k concurrent players and 3 million sales in its first weeks.
