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 undergoing a profound transition. He argued that the 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," he 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 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." Jorjani identified three major forces driving this upheaval. The first is the continued rise of developers from the Asia‑Pacific region.
This year’s Gamescom Opening Night Live, for example, highlighted the technical and creative muscle of studios from China and South Korea. "There’s always been a general rise of Asian games and companies into the West," Jorjani noted. "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 be at a tipping point in terms of quality. While the Chinese market remains heavily mobile‑centric, that focus has accelerated production pipelines and introduced new design sensibilities.
Jorjani observed, "It is definitely picking up for sure. 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." Artificial intelligence, according to Jorjani, is the second catalyst reshaping the landscape. Unlike previous hype cycles such as virtual reality, AI is delivering concrete changes to how games are built, tested, and marketed.
Yet its adoption is uneven across regions. In the West, developers wrestle with ethical questions, data‑training rights, and artistic integrity. "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 explained.
By contrast, many Eastern studios appear to embrace AI with little moral hesitation, treating it as another tool for rapid iteration. "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." The third challenge is the sheer length of development cycles for AAA titles. Large‑scale projects often span five to six years and involve multiple teams across several time zones. This reality pushes publishers toward safe bets: established franchises, sequels, and remakes. Jorjani said, "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. The only thing that really, really mitigates risk on that level is brand and recognisability." He pointed out that many players gravitate toward familiar names because they reduce uncertainty. Steam data shows that roughly half of the time spent on the platform is on games older than 18 months, underscoring the market’s appetite for known quantities. Indie developers, however, enjoy a strategic edge.
Their shorter cycles allow for early validation – showing a prototype, a GIF, or a short video to the community and iterating based on feedback. "The secret sauce to any successful game is early validation," Jorjani asserted. He cited the indie hit Tiny Glade, whose early GIFs went viral week after week, as an example of how rapid community response can steer a project toward success. In contrast, a four‑year AAA cycle forces studios to wait until the product is near completion before launching a massive marketing push, often missing the window for agile adjustment.
Arrowhead itself is adopting this indie‑style methodology for its next project. The studio plans to involve a small, carefully selected group of Helldivers veterans early in development, asking them about their favorite IPs, themes, and gameplay preferences.
By segmenting the audience – for instance, players who love aliens and Helldivers versus those who enjoy Helldivers but not the alien motif – the team can gauge which design directions resonate most. This data‑driven approach mirrors the way mobile developers test concepts through ad performance before committing to full 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." Looking ahead, Jorjani believes the industry will continue to fragment.
Companies like Riot Games and Supercell often juggle multiple projects, but only one or two become breakout hits, while the rest fade into obscurity. This environment rewards studios that can iterate quickly, listen to their community, and abandon outdated playbooks that demand secrecy and long‑term speculation. "Early validation is the name of the game," he concluded.
"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." By embracing rapid feedback loops, leveraging AI responsibly, and staying attuned to the growing influence of Asian developers, indie creators and forward‑thinking studios can navigate the uncertainty and thrive in the new era of gaming.