Shams Jorjani, the chief executive of Arrowhead Game Studios – the studio behind Helldivers 2 – told GamesIndustry.biz at Gamescom that the video‑game sector is currently undergoing a profound transitional period. He argued that the playbooks that guided developers and publishers throughout the 2010s have lost their relevance, and that the assumptions underpinning business cases from that era are now fundamentally flawed. "Sometimes you hear doom‑and‑gloom narratives, but overall the industry is healthy," Jorjani said. "What has changed is that the foundations of our expectations have shifted dramatically.
The strategies that delivered success between 2010 and 2020 simply don’t work anymore. The bottom line of every traditional business model has evaporated.
In the past we could at least guess a minimum sales figure for a title; now you have to subtract that number entirely. That’s the new reality." He identified several forces driving this upheaval.
One of the most visible is the accelerating rise of developers from the Asia‑Pacific region. This year’s Gamescom Opening Night Live highlighted the capabilities of studios from China and South Korea, underscoring a trend that has been building for a decade but has now reached a tipping point where Asian‑made games dominate the headlines on a game‑by‑game basis. "Asian developers have been gaining ground in the West for ten years, and now we’re seeing a steady stream of high‑quality releases," Jorjani noted. "China, in particular, has hit a quality threshold that makes its output competitive on a global scale.
The market there is still heavily mobile‑centric, which influences design sensibilities, but the speed at which games are produced is increasing, and AI is amplifying that momentum." Artificial intelligence, he argued, is the most disruptive technological development the industry has faced in recent memory. While previous hype cycles – such as virtual reality – eventually settled into niche roles, AI is reshaping development pipelines, content creation, and even business models.
Jorjani emphasized that the adoption of AI varies sharply between East and West. In Western markets, developers grapple with ethical questions, data‑training rights, and artistic integrity, often debating whether AI‑generated assets should be allowed at all. In contrast, many Eastern studios appear less concerned with those debates, focusing instead on efficiency and output.
"In the West we’re wrestling with the moral implications of AI – is it ethical, should we regulate it, does it dilute artistry?" he explained. "In the East, the conversation is more pragmatic: if AI helps you ship functional code faster, it’s adopted without hesitation. This cultural divide creates an existential dilemma for Western creators who see their artistic process being reframed as a purely technical exercise.
The West will likely adopt AI more slowly, but the shift is inevitable." Beyond technology, Jorjani highlighted the structural challenge of long development cycles for AAA titles. Big‑budget games often require five to six years of work, coordinated across multiple studios and time zones. This lengthy timeline makes publishers wary of investing in unproven IP, prompting a reliance on established franchises that can mitigate risk through brand recognition.
He pointed out that players tend to gravitate toward familiar names, even when a flood of new releases creates analysis paralysis. "When you have a sea of games launching every week, consumers default to what they know," he said. "A title like Worms carries instant recognition; you don’t need to explain the core loop. That brand safety reduces risk, especially when development timelines are so protracted.
Steam data shows that half of the playtime on the platform goes to games older than 18 months, indicating that players are comfortable sticking with known properties rather than chasing every shiny new IP." Nevertheless, Jorjani believes indie developers possess a strategic advantage in this environment. Smaller studios can iterate quickly, validate concepts early, and adjust direction based on real‑time feedback. He cited the success of games such as Tiny Glade, which gained traction after early GIFs went viral, demonstrating the power of early community validation. "The secret sauce for any hit is early validation," Jorjani asserted.
"If you can show a prototype to an audience and receive positive signals, you know you’re on the right track and can iterate fast. Indie teams often share progress openly, posting short clips or demos, and they can pivot before committing to a four‑year development cycle." Arrowhead itself is adopting this leaner approach for its upcoming project. Inspired by mobile‑gaming practices that test concepts through ads and micro‑campaigns, the studio plans to place a playable build directly into the hands of a curated group of Helldivers fans. By surveying these players about their favorite genres and IPs, Arrowhead hopes to gauge whether the new title resonates with a specific niche – for example, fans who love alien‑themed shooters – before scaling up.
"We’ll give the game to about a hundred Helldivers enthusiasts, ask them about their preferred franchises, and compare their reactions to a control group that simply enjoys Helldivers but isn’t as passionate about aliens," he explained. "If the targeted cohort rates the experience higher, we have evidence that we’re hitting the right audience early on, rather than waiting two years for broad market testing." In conclusion, Jorjani urged the industry to abandon the old habit of keeping projects under wraps for years and then unveiling them with a massive marketing splash. Instead, he advocated for a transparent, feedback‑driven development cycle that leverages AI tools, embraces the growing influence of Asian studios, and capitalizes on the agility of indie teams.
By doing so, developers can navigate the uncertain future of gaming while still delivering experiences that connect with players on both artistic and functional levels.