Shams Jorjani, the chief executive of Arrowhead Game Studios – the team behind Helldivers 2 – told GamesIndustry.biz at Gamescom that the video‑game sector is currently undergoing a profound transition. He argued that the formulas and assumptions that guided developers and publishers throughout the 2010s have largely lost their relevance today.
"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 key drivers behind this shift. First, the steady rise of developers in the Asia‑Pacific region is reshaping the global market.
This year’s Gamescom Opening Night Live featured a parade of titles from China and South Korea, underscoring how Asian studios are no longer peripheral players but major contributors to the worldwide catalogue. "There’s always been a general rise of Asian games and companies into the West," Jorjani observed. "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 and ambition. While the Chinese market remains heavily mobile‑centric – a factor that influences design sensibilities – the speed at which new games are produced is accelerating, a trend Jorjani attributes in part to artificial intelligence.
"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, he stressed, is perhaps the most unpredictable element on the horizon. Unlike previous hype cycles such as virtual reality, which eventually settled into a niche, AI is already reshaping development pipelines, asset creation, and even design iteration. Yet the adoption of AI varies dramatically between East and West.
In Western studios, debates about ethics, data ownership, and artistic integrity dominate the conversation. In contrast, many Eastern developers appear less concerned with those issues, treating AI as a straightforward productivity tool.
"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," Jorjani explained. Beyond technology, the sheer length of AAA development cycles adds another layer of uncertainty. Large‑scale titles often require five to six years of work, involving multiple studios across different time zones. This prolonged timeline makes it risky to gamble on brand‑new intellectual property, especially when market conditions can shift dramatically during the development window.
As a result, many Western publishers have leaned toward sequels, remakes, and established franchises that provide a safety net through brand recognition. "If you know that and the market is changing, you need to be very certain that the bet you’re taking works.
The only thing that really, really mitigates risk on that level is brand and recognisability," Jorjani said. He noted that players often gravitate toward familiar names because they know what to expect, even if the experience isn’t groundbreaking. He also highlighted a phenomenon he calls “analysis paralysis.” With an ever‑growing flood of new releases, consumers can become overwhelmed, defaulting to titles they recognize. Data from Steam Replay 2025 shows that nearly half of all playtime is spent on games that are between one and seven years old, indicating a preference for proven experiences over untested newcomers.
"People scream for new games and IPs, but they don’t actually buy them. We tend to buy remakes," he observed.
In this environment, indie developers enjoy a strategic advantage. Their shorter development cycles and willingness to share early prototypes allow for rapid feedback loops.
Jorjani pointed to the success of Tiny Glade, an indie title that gained momentum after the developers posted early GIFs that resonated with the community. "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." Arrowhead itself is adopting this indie‑style approach for its next project. The studio plans to involve a select group of dedicated Helldivers fans early in the process, gathering detailed preferences about favorite IPs and gameplay elements. By testing concepts with a focused audience rather than waiting for a full‑scale launch, the team hopes to fine‑tune the experience and avoid costly missteps later on.
Jorjani likened this to the mobile‑gaming practice of running ad‑based concept tests to see which ideas resonate most before committing to full production. In summary, Jorjani believes the industry is at a crossroads where traditional playbooks no longer apply. The confluence of longer development timelines, the rise of Asian studios, and the disruptive potential of AI creates a volatile yet opportunity‑rich landscape.
While large publishers may cling to familiar brands to mitigate risk, indie creators who can iterate quickly and validate ideas early are poised to thrive. Arrowhead intends to blend its AAA pedigree with the agility of indie development, embracing early player feedback and a willingness to abandon outdated strategies in favor of a more experimental, data‑driven approach.