A heroic ten years

• Heroic Labs is celebrating its 10th anniversary
• CEO Chris Molozian reflects on the studio's first decade
• Why open source? Melozian tells all.
• " Build with us, change things with us, improve it together.”

As the studio celebrates its first decade, PocketGamer.biz interviews Chris Molozian, CEO and Co-Founder of Heroic Labs, about the studio's growth, its technology, the challenges ahead and its plans for the decade ahead.

PocketGamer.biz: Heroic Labs has been at the forefront of providing backend solutions for game developers for several years now. Could you share some insights into the founding vision and how it has evolved?

Chris Molozian: We actually started Heroic Labs because we wanted to build games, but quickly realised we were better at solving hard technical problems than shipping polished gameplay. And more importantly, the backend infrastructure we wanted simply didn’t exist.

We kept seeing studios reinvent the wheel: building complex backend systems from scratch instead of focusing on the game itself. It was painful to watch, and we knew there had to be a better way. That was the spark.

Over the years, the vision evolved from just building a backend to building a full stack: open, scalable, and battle-tested, so developers can focus on what they do best.

Nakama is open-source. Why take that route, and what’s been the benefit?

Early on, we operated as a SaaS developer tools company. But the economics didn’t work.

If one customer scaled, they consumed a large amount of our server resources. And the harsh reality of Software-as-a-Service meant we had to offer a free tier, which our paying customers necessarily subsidise. A classic problem with SaaS developer technology.
So we decided to go open-source, which at the time felt completely insane.

We were a small team. Going open-source meant giving away the core of what we built, something that we poured years into. But it also forced us to ask: are we trying to build a moat, or a movement?

We chose the latter. Nakama, our open-source game server, wasn’t just about transparency; it was about trust. It told developers: “We’re in this with you. Build with us, change things with us, improve it together.”

It was terrifying. But looking back, it was the best decision we ever made. It created a global community of developers who didn’t just use Nakama, they help shape it.

How do Nakama and Satori work together, and what makes that combination unique?

Think of Nakama as the beating heart of multiplayer and social features, a real-time, scalable, feature-rich open-source game server. Satori, our live ops platform, on the other hand, is the brain: analytics, event calendars, segmentation and everything to run a live service game on any platform.

The magic is in the loop. A player does something, data flows into Satori, you tweak the game in real-time, Nakama pushes it back into the experience. That feedback loop is crucial in today’s high-paced live operations world, and I believe that the best results come when your live ops platform is intelligent with your server infrastructure.

What are the biggest backend challenges game developers face today, and how are you addressing them?

The biggest one? Trying to do it all. Studios are expected to build a great game, launch cross-platform, go live globally, and still somehow operate a custom backend that never breaks. It’s just not sustainable.

I mean, it really comes down to what is the developer's core offering and core competence. For the majority of studios, the focus is on building a great game with a strong IP and getting as many players as possible playing the title.

Backend infrastructure is a crucial part of the process. And if a studio engages in building, maintaining and evolving this infrastructure, it can take away attention from what the studio should be focusing on, which is building great games.

Our focus is fully on the infrastructure. Our products are used by hundreds of studios, which allows us to be more cost-effective than any in-house service. Servicing many studios also means we have built our stack to be unified and developer-friendly.

Heroic Cloud, for instance, eliminates DevOps headaches while keeping teams agile. We also provide deep documentation and support to shorten the learning curve.

How do you view emerging technologies like AI, ML, and web3? Are they on Heroic Labs’ roadmap?

We’ve got our eyes on AI, not the hype, but the practical stuff: smarter matchmaking, real-time content moderation, automation in live ops. We’re already running experiments internally and seeing strong results. And of course, our team is using AI development tools to be more effective.

Web3? Cautiously curious. For us, it always comes down to real player value. Not speculation, not jargon. If it improves the player experience or empowers developers, we’ll pay attention.

What pitfalls do devs often hit with GaaS games, and what advice would you offer?

A common trap is overengineering or building systems from scratch that already exist. Funny enough, this same pitfall has existed ever since we started Heroic Labs.

It’s tempting to chase feature parity with the biggest titles on the market. But most of the time, the right move is to get into the market quickly, learn fast, and iterate live. That’s how the best games tend to be built.

The advice hasn’t changed since we started Heroic: start lean, build smart, and partner with people who’ll be there when things get hard. In today's cost-conscious and unforgiving environment, time-to-market is perhaps more critical than ever before.

What should developers prioritise when choosing a backend solution?

Scalability and cost, sure. But honestly? Support.

When launch day arrives and something breaks at 3 AM, you want someone on the other end who’s been there before and can fix it. That’s why we travel, why we embed with teams, and why we invest so heavily in docs and onboarding. And why we’ve spent countless sleepless nights and weekends. 

I’ll be honest, infrastructure is important, but what you really need is a partner who cares about your studio. We know intrinsically that our success builds off your success as a studio.

Any standout developer stories you can share?

Without naming names of the studios, some of my favourite moments are watching indie devs we met at a small event launch a global hit. We’ve helped one-person teams scale to millions of players, and we’ve helped billion-dollar studios migrate off legacy stacks with zero downtime.

But the stories I love most are the quiet ones, teams that felt like they were drowning in complexity, then found clarity. That’s the moment I know we’re doing something right.

What’s next on the roadmap for Heroic Labs?

We’re going deeper on Heroic Cloud, making it even more plug-and-play. More AI-powered tools. Better cross-platform support. But the bigger shift is this: We’re moving from being “just” infrastructure to becoming a growth partner. From prototype to post-launch, we want to be the team that helps you scale not just technically, but commercially, creatively, and sustainably.

But if you ask me what I’m really proud of, it’s the team we’ve built over these years. I’m truly honoured to have so many of the top professionals around the world join us in this heroic quest. And to be honest, it still feels like we’re only getting started.

What broader tech trend do you find most exciting for gaming?

We’re fascinated by the rise of real-time collaboration and low-code tools. These trends are reshaping how games are built: faster, more iteratively, and by more diverse teams. And we’re here to support that shift every step of the way. Making sure that our tools are just as intuitive for seasoned builders and novices in the industry.