Building Better Technology. Building Better Teams.
Backend services and game development teams for studios that need reliable delivery without another hiring cycle.
We provide small, senior teams that integrate quickly, take ownership and help solve clearly defined production and technology problems.
Who We Help
We work with studios that need specialist capability, clearer ownership or additional production capacity without slowing their core team down.
From growing independent studios to established AAA teams, we work alongside internal developers, producers and designers to remove bottlenecks and move important work forward.
We can support you with:
Specialist support
One or two experienced people filling a specific capability gap.
Small delivery teams
A focused team working on a defined technical or production problem.
Feature ownership pods
A multidisciplinary team taking responsibility for a feature, service or delivery stream.
Start with the problem. Build the smallest useful team around it.
Backend Services
Robust online systems, faster releases and less operational friction
Our senior backend engineers work with existing platforms, services and production constraints. We can improve what you already have without forcing an unnecessary rewrite.
Scale
Improve services that need to support more players, more content and growing operational demand.
Stability
Reduce incidents, fragile integrations and production risk across live systems.
Delivery velocity
Improve backend architecture, development workflows and deployment automation so teams can release changes more confidently.
Live operations
Build services, dashboards and integrations that help live-ops and customer-support teams understand and resolve player issues.
Supporting capability
- Online game backend development
- C# and .NET services
- APIs and cloud infrastructure
- Live-ops and customer-service tooling
- Deployment and development automation
- Architecture and performance reviews
- Unreal Engine and Unity integration
Best suited to live products, online games and teams facing increasing backend or operational complexity.
Game Development Team
Experienced production capacity without slowing your core team down
Our co-development teams support features, tools, content pipelines and production pressure points across the project lifecycle.
The team is shaped around the work rather than a fixed staffing model. We can provide a small specialist group, a feature ownership pod or a longer-term team embedded into your production.
Core disciplines
Engineering
Gameplay, systems, tools, build pipelines and engine support.
Art
Technical art, environments, characters, UI and production art.
Design
Gameplay, systems, levels and content implementation.
Production
Planning, coordination and delivery ownership across disciplines.
Best suited to studios that need additional production capacity, experienced technical support or a team that can own a clearly defined part of the project.
How We Work
Start narrow. Prove value. Scale where it makes sense.
You do not need to commit to a large outsourced team before knowing how well we work together.
1. Understand the problem
We identify the constraint, the people involved and what a useful first outcome would look like.
2. Deliver something tangible
A small team works alongside yours on a defined piece of delivery.
3. Review and adapt
Together, we assess the outcome, working relationship and next priority.
4. Scale or take ownership
Where it makes sense, we expand the team or take clearer ownership of a backend area, toolset or feature stream.
The aim is to create evidence before asking you to make a larger commitment.
Why Sponge Hammer
Senior capability without the large-studio overhead
Experienced
Indie, AA and AAA experience across backend systems, game technology and production.
Flexible
Start with a specialist or small team, then scale as the project requires.
Accountable
Clear ownership, direct communication and a practical focus on dependable delivery.
Product-minded
We build our own games, so we understand decisions from the product side.
A controlled way to add capability, ownership and delivery confidence.
Ways to Work Together
Flexible engagement around the problem
Focused project
A fixed scope, timeframe or price for a clearly defined problem.
Retained team
Capacity that can adjust as priorities and project demands change.
Feature ownership pod
A longer-term multidisciplinary team responsible for a defined feature or delivery stream.
Team augmentation
Experienced specialists working within your existing team where permanent hiring is not the right answer.
The model can change as the work develops. You are not locked into a larger team than the problem requires.
Featured Projects
Sea of thieves
Since 2019, Sponge Hammer engineers have worked alongside Rare on backend systems supporting the continued growth and operation of Sea of Thieves.
Our work has included:
- Backend performance and optimisation
- Services supporting player engagement
- Live-event and content-delivery support
- Content-management tooling and customisation
- Improvements to operational reliability and scalability
Sea of Thieves received the BAFTA for Evolving Game, reflecting the strength and longevity of its continued development.
Grid (2019)
ponge Hammer supported Codemasters during the development of GRID, contributing engineering capacity across gameplay, UI, graphics and production tooling.
Our work included:
- Replay and shader programming
- UI development
- Gameplay support
- Tools development
- Bug fixing and production support
Experience across the games industry
Our team has contributed to live-service games, AAA technology, independent productions and educational products.
That experience helps us adapt to different production environments while keeping communication, ownership and delivery straightforward.
Experience across the games industry
Our team has contributed to live-service games, AAA technology, independent productions and educational products.
That experience helps us adapt to different production environments while keeping communication, ownership and delivery straightforward.
Experience across the games industry
Our team has contributed to live-service games, AAA technology, independent productions and educational products.
That experience helps us adapt to different production environments while keeping communication, ownership and delivery straightforward.
A senior remote studio built for delivery
Established in 2016, Sponge Hammer brings together experienced developers, artists, designers and producers across the UK and Europe.
Our teams have worked across AAA games, live-service products, independent development and proprietary technology.
- Established in 2016
- Remote team across the UK and Europe
- Experience from indie through to AAA
- Client services and original product development
- Long-term experience working as distributed teams
Contact us
Start with one live problem
Tell us what is slipping, fragile or slowing the team down.
We will help identify the constraint, suggest the smallest useful team and define a sensible first delivery step.
Talk to Sponge Hammer: info@spongehammer.com.
