Shams Jorjani, the chief executive of Arrowhead Game Studios – the team behind Helldivers 2 – recently told GamesIndustry.biz at Gamescom that the video‑game sector is undergoing a profound transitional period. He argued that the assumptions and playbooks that guided developers and publishers throughout the 2010s have essentially become obsolete.
"Sometimes there’s been doom and gloom, but overall the games industry is doing well," Jorjani said. "It’s just that the things we based our assumptions on have changed fundamentally. The playbooks used from 2010 to 2020 no longer work. The bottom has fallen out of every business case you had.
No one knew how well a game would sell, but they assumed it would sell at least this much. Whatever that number was, take a zero away. And that’s the reality." He identified several forces behind this shift. One of the most visible is the continued ascent of developers in the Asia‑Pacific region.
This year’s Gamescom Opening Night Live highlighted the growing technical and artistic capabilities of studios from China and South Korea, underscoring a broader trend that Jorjani says has been building for a decade. "There’s always been a general rise of Asian games and companies into the West," he explained. "That’s been ongoing for the last ten years, but now it’s reached a point where it’s game after game after game that’s really making it." China, in particular, appears to have arrived at a tipping point in terms of quality.
While the Chinese market remains heavily mobile‑centric, that focus has shaped a distinct design sensibility that is now spilling over into console and PC titles. Jorjani noted that artificial‑intelligence tools are accelerating this cross‑pollination, allowing games to be produced at a faster pace than ever before. "It is definitely picking up for sure," he said. "I think there’s still a way to go, but there are very different sensibilities to what makes the games tick as well.
The Chinese audience is still primarily mobile‑driven. That flavours the sensibilities, but it’s going faster. I think AI is accelerating this because more and more games are coming out faster and faster everywhere." AI, according to Jorjani, is the most disruptive technology the industry has seen since the rise of online multiplayer.
Its impact is two‑fold: it introduces a new level of market unpredictability, and it reveals stark cultural differences in adoption. In the West, developers wrestle with ethical questions about data usage, copyright, and artistic integrity. In the East, those concerns appear largely absent; studios treat AI as a pragmatic tool for generating functional code and assets without the same ideological hesitation.
"When you introduce AI to it, I understand that Western game developers have an existential crisis. I am an artist, and I’m also connecting with people on an artistic level, but when you make it into software, it’s just functional. There’s a different attitude there. The West will be slower on the uptake, but the uptake will still happen," he said.
Beyond technology, Jorjani highlighted the structural challenge of long development cycles for AAA titles. Projects that span five or six years require massive, geographically dispersed teams, which makes publishers risk‑averse.
To mitigate that risk, they lean heavily on established IP and brand recognition. A familiar name like Worms or a proven franchise provides a safety net that new IP cannot.
He pointed to data from Steam Replay 2025 indicating that roughly 44 % of player hours were spent on games released between one and seven years ago, suggesting that gamers often gravitate toward titles they already know. While there is vocal demand for fresh experiences, purchasing behavior still favors remakes, sequels, and recognizable brands. "People scream for new games and IPs, but they don’t actually buy them. We tend to buy remakes," Jorjani observed.
"That’s where we were at least very fortunate with Helldivers, in the sense that we were one of the lucky few who were able to get a breakthrough and establish ourselves. And that came through a certain bit of luck and the secret sauce that goes into making the game. It makes it recognisable, but also its own thing." He contrasted this environment with the strategy of companies like Riot Games or Supercell, which often juggle multiple projects simultaneously. When one title becomes a blockbuster, the others fade into the background, creating a market dynamic where indie developers can thrive.
Indie studios typically have shorter cycles, can iterate quickly, and rely heavily on early community feedback. "The secret sauce to any successful game is early validation," Jorjani said.
"The sooner you can get something in front of a person and get positive feedback, you know you’re on track, onto something, and you can iterate. That’s the strength of software development.
We see this in indie development because their cycles look very different and they share openly." He cited the indie hit Tiny Glade as an example: early GIFs posted by the developers generated viral interest week after week, allowing the team to adjust direction before a costly, four‑year development grind began. Arrowhead intends to adopt a similar approach for its next project, borrowing tactics from mobile developers who test concepts through ads and measure engagement before committing to full production. "We’re going to be putting it in the hands of players right away as soon as possible," Jorjani explained.
"Our philosophy has always been that we want to make games for a certain type of connoisseur. We don’t want just any action player fan. We want a specific one.
So we’ll probably put the game in the hands of a hundred Helldivers players, and then we’ll ask them what their favourite IPs or games are. If they like aliens and they like Helldivers, then we know that they should score the game higher than the control group that all like Helldivers but aliens isn’t their favourite.
That will allow us to know that we’re able to hit that specific group, and we should do this now, early into development rather than waiting two years after getting broad user tests." In closing, Jorjani warned that clinging to the old playbook—keeping a project under wraps for years before a massive marketing push—will no longer be viable. The industry’s new reality demands transparency, rapid iteration, and a willingness to experiment with emerging technologies, even if that means confronting uncomfortable ethical debates. "But it requires you to let go of that old playbook of playing your cards close to the chest for years, and then dazzle and razzle," he concluded, underscoring the need for a fresh strategic mindset as the gaming world continues its rapid evolution.