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 assumptions and playbooks that guided developers and publishers throughout the 2010s have lost their relevance in today’s rapidly evolving market. "Sometimes there’s been doom and gloom, but overall the games industry is doing well," Jorjani 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 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 highlighted the capabilities of studios from China and South Korea, underscoring a trend that has been building for a decade but now feels inevitable. "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 have hit a tipping point in the quality and ambition of its titles. While the Chinese market remains heavily mobile‑centric, that focus has fostered a fast‑paced development culture that is now spilling over into console and PC experiences.
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 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, he argued, is perhaps the most disruptive technology the industry has faced in recent memory. Unlike previous hype cycles such as virtual reality, AI is already reshaping production pipelines, content generation, and even marketing. Yet its adoption varies dramatically between East and West. In the West, developers wrestle with ethical questions, data‑ownership concerns, and artistic integrity.
In the East, according to Jorjani, the conversation is far less restrained: "They absolutely do not care whatsoever. Everyone’s shifted over to using AI completely and without any major moral qualms. If you’re making functional code, you’re not making entertainment where you’re trying to connect with other humans." He added that this cultural divide creates an "existential crisis" for Western creators who view games as art as well as software.
"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." Beyond technology, Jorjani highlighted the structural challenge of long development cycles for AAA projects.
Five‑ or six‑year timelines, multinational teams, and massive budgets mean that publishers are increasingly risk‑averse, leaning on established IPs rather than betting on new concepts. "If you know that the market is changing, you need to be very certain that the bet you’re taking works," he explained. Brand recognition, he said, is the primary risk mitigator.
Players are more likely to purchase a familiar franchise than an untested title, even if the latter promises innovation. Data from Steam reinforces this pattern: a sizable portion of player time is spent on games that are more than a year old, while many new releases struggle to capture lasting attention. Jorjani pointed out that while consumers loudly demand fresh experiences, their purchasing behavior often favors remakes or sequels. "We were fortunate with Helldivers, in the sense that we were one of the lucky few who were able to get a breakthrough and establish ourselves.
That came through a certain bit of luck and the secret sauce that goes into making the game. It makes it recognisable, but also its own thing." Indie developers, however, possess a strategic advantage in this environment.
Their shorter cycles, lean teams, and willingness to share early builds enable rapid validation. "The secret sauce to any successful game is early validation," Jorjani asserted. He cited the practice of posting short GIFs or prototype videos to gauge community reaction as a powerful feedback loop that can steer development long before a full marketing push. Arrowhead is applying this philosophy to its next project.
Inspired by mobile‑game studios that test concepts through ad performance, the company plans to place early builds directly into the hands of a curated group of players. "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, we know we should score the game higher than the control group that all like Helldivers but aliens isn’t their favourite," he explained. This approach aims to identify niche audiences early, reducing the risk of a costly, four‑year development cycle that only reveals its market fit at launch.
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 unpredictable impact of AI demand a new mindset. Indie studios, with their agility and emphasis on early community feedback, are well‑positioned to thrive amid this turbulence.
Arrowhead’s own shift toward rapid validation and targeted testing exemplifies how developers can adapt, letting go of the old habit of keeping cards close to the chest for years and instead embracing a more open, iterative development culture.