Shams Jorjani, the chief executive of Arrowhead Game Studios – the studio behind the upcoming Helldivers 2 – recently told GamesIndustry.biz at Gamescom that the video‑game sector is undergoing a profound transition. He argues that the assumptions and playbooks that guided developers and publishers throughout the 2010s have lost their relevance in today’s rapidly evolving marketplace. "Sometimes there’s been doom and gloom, but overall the games industry is doing well," Jorjani said. "It’s just that the things that 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 that 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 driving 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, for example, highlighted the technical prowess and creative ambition of studios from China and South Korea, underscoring that Asian games are no longer niche imports but mainstream contenders. "There’s always been a general rise of Asian games and companies into the West," Jorjani 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 hit a tipping point in terms of quality and ambition. While the Chinese market remains heavily mobile‑centric – a factor that shapes design sensibilities – the speed at which new titles are produced is accelerating, a trend Jorjani attributes in part to artificial intelligence.
"It is definitely picking up for sure," he noted. "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 in recent memory.
Unlike previous hype cycles such as virtual reality, which fizzled after an initial burst, AI is reshaping production pipelines, content creation, and even business models. Yet its adoption is uneven across regions. "In the West, we’re asking if it is ethical and whether these companies are allowed to train on this data, and whether we should oppose it on ideological or artistic grounds," he said.
"Whereas in the East, they absolutely do not care whatsoever. Everyone has shifted over to using AI completely and without any major moral qualms, because at the end of the day, if you’re making functional code, you’re not making entertainment where you’re trying to connect with other humans." He added that Western developers are experiencing an "existential crisis" as they grapple with the artistic implications of AI‑generated assets. "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," Jorjani predicted. Beyond technology, the sheer length of AAA development cycles remains a critical obstacle to agility.
Large‑scale projects often require five to six years and coordination across multiple studios and time zones. This long lead time encourages publishers to lean on established IPs rather than gamble on new concepts, especially in Western markets where risk aversion is high. "Development cycles are still long.
If you know that and the market is changing, you need to be very certain that the bet you’re taking works," Jorjani explained. "The only thing that really mitigates risk at that level is brand and recognisability.
People know what they’re getting, so you can offset that risk." He pointed out that the flood of new releases creates what he calls "analysis paralysis" for consumers. When faced with dozens of unfamiliar titles, players gravitate toward familiar franchises like Worms, which provide a known experience even if they are not groundbreaking. Data from Steam Replay 2025 shows that 44 % of user playtime was spent on games between one and seven years old, indicating a strong preference for established titles.
This dynamic benefits indie developers, who can move far more quickly and validate concepts early. Jorjani highlighted the importance of early feedback loops, noting that indie teams often share short GIFs or demo clips publicly.
If the community reacts positively, the developers gain confidence and can iterate rapidly. "The secret sauce to any successful game is early validation," he 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." He cited the success story of Tiny Glade, an indie title that gained momentum after a series of early GIFs went viral week after week. By contrast, a four‑year AAA cycle that waits until the final product is complete before launching a massive marketing push risks missing the window of consumer attention. Arrowhead itself is adopting an indie‑style approach for its next project.
The studio plans to involve a small, highly targeted group of Helldivers fans early in development, gathering detailed preferences about favorite IPs, genres, and themes. By testing concepts with this niche audience, Arrowhead hopes to fine‑tune its game before committing to broader production.
"We’re going to be putting it in the hands of players right away as soon as possible," Jorjani said. "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 100 Helldivers players, and then we’ll ask them what their favourite IPs or games are.
If they’re interested in 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 summary, Jorjani believes the industry’s old playbooks are obsolete. The convergence of longer development timelines, the rise of high‑quality Asian studios, and the disruptive potential of AI demand a new strategic mindset.
For large publishers, leveraging strong brands remains a hedge against uncertainty, while indie developers gain a competitive edge through rapid prototyping and early community validation. Arrowhead intends to blend these insights, embracing early player feedback and a more flexible development cadence to navigate an industry that, as Jorjani puts it, is fundamentally different from the one he entered a decade ago.