Robert van Hoesel is Co-Founder and CEO of FirstLook, a player engagement platform for game studios that was acquired by Pragma in 2025. He is a product-focused web developer with a decade of experience based in Amsterdam.

Robert's experience in B2B software and partnership with Frost Giant Studios led him to develop a custom solution for onboarding thousands of playtesters. He previously founded Young Creators and co-founded Crowded, a modular community platform for business.

Robert is also the creator of AoE4World, the largest Age of Empires 4 community website, and built MastoMetrics, an analytics platform for Mastodon. He is a web developer with a passion for gaming and online communities.

FirstLook joined Pragma in 2025 to scale up the platform beyond playtesting, and now works with over 50 studios and a million players. FirstLook has facilitated over 100 playtest events, supported 30 Discord communities, and onboarded 100,000 playtesters since launching in 2024.

The partnership with Frost Giant Studios allowed them to onboard thousands of players at once for playtests. FirstLook serves major studios including Remedy Entertainment, Krafton, Dreamhaven, and Avalanche Studios, transforming how game developers engage with players before and after launch.