Shams Jorjani, the chief executive of Arrowhead Game Studios—the studio behind Helldivers 2—recently told GamesIndustry.biz at Gamescom that the video‑game sector is undergoing a profound transition. He argued that the formulas and expectations that guided developers and publishers throughout the 2010s have largely lost their relevance in today’s market.
"Sometimes there’s been doom and gloom, but overall the games industry is doing well," Jorjani observed. "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 explained that several forces are driving this shift.
One major factor is the continued rise of developers in the Asia‑Pacific region. This year’s Gamescom Opening Night Live, for example, highlighted the growing technical and creative capabilities of studios from China and South Korea. "There’s always been a general rise of Asian games and companies into the West," Jorjani said.
"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 the quality and ambition of its titles. Jorjani noted that while the Chinese market remains heavily mobile‑centric, that focus is accelerating development cycles and pushing studios to experiment more rapidly.
"It is definitely picking up for sure," he added. "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, Jorjani argued, is perhaps the most disruptive technology the industry has seen in recent memory. Unlike previous hype cycles—such as virtual reality—that often fizzled out, AI is reshaping production pipelines, asset creation, and even design iteration. "For AI, I think it is more transformative in a completely different way," he said.
He also highlighted a cultural divide in how the technology is embraced. In the West, developers grapple with ethical questions, data‑training rights, and artistic integrity, whereas many Eastern studios appear less concerned about those issues and are adopting AI tools at a breakneck pace. "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. He likened the situation to his friends in the broader IT sector, many of whom have already migrated to AI‑driven workflows without moral hesitation because the end goal is functional code, not entertainment that seeks to forge a human connection. Beyond technology, the sheer length of AAA development cycles adds another layer of uncertainty.
Large‑scale projects often span five to six years and require coordination across multiple studios and time zones. This reality pushes many Western publishers to lean on established franchises rather than risk new intellectual property. "If you know that and the market is changing, you need to be very certain that the bet you’re taking works," Jorjani said. "The only thing that really, really mitigates risk on that level is brand and recognisability.
People know what they’re getting, so you can offset that risk." He illustrated this point with the example of classic series such as Worms, which benefits from instant brand recognition even if its latest installment isn’t groundbreaking. In a market flooded with new releases, consumers experience analysis paralysis; they gravitate toward familiar names because they know the experience will meet expectations. Jorjani cited Steam data indicating that roughly half of all playtime on the platform is spent on games older than 18 months, underscoring the market’s appetite for proven titles over untested newcomers. Nevertheless, Jorjani believes indie developers possess a strategic edge in this environment.
Their shorter development cycles, leaner teams, and willingness to share early builds enable rapid validation. "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 pointed to the success of Tiny Glade, an indie title that gained momentum after the developers posted early GIFs that resonated with the community week after week. By contrast, a four‑year AAA cycle often forces studios to wait until the product is finished before launching a major marketing push, missing the opportunity for iterative feedback.
Arrowhead itself is adopting this indie‑style approach for its upcoming project. The studio plans to involve a select group of dedicated Helldivers fans early in development, gathering detailed preferences about favorite IPs, gameplay mechanics, and thematic elements. By segmenting players—those who love aliens and enjoy Helldivers, for example—Arrowhead hopes to fine‑tune the experience for a specific niche rather than casting a wide net.
"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 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 and they like the game they’re playing with us, 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." Jorjani concluded by emphasizing that this methodology requires abandoning the old playbook of keeping a project under wraps for years before a big reveal. Instead, developers must embrace transparency, rapid iteration, and data‑driven decision‑making to thrive in an industry where assumptions shift as quickly as technology evolves. The combination of longer development timelines, the surge of Asian studios, and AI’s transformative impact creates a landscape that is difficult to predict—but also ripe with opportunity for those willing to adapt.