Shams Jorjani, 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 that guided developers and publishers throughout the 2010s have lost their relevance in today’s market.
"Sometimes there’s a sense of doom and gloom, but overall the industry is healthy," Jorjani explained. "What’s changed is that the assumptions we built our business cases on have been upended. The playbooks that served us from 2010 to 2020 simply don’t work any longer.
The bottom line has vanished from every projection we once trusted. No one could guarantee a title would sell a certain amount, and now that expected figure is effectively zero.
That’s the reality we face." He identified several forces driving this shift. First, the continued rise of developers in the Asia‑Pacific region is reshaping the global landscape. 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 appears in a steady stream of high‑quality releases. "Asian games and companies have been gaining ground in the West for ten years, and now it’s a relentless parade of titles that are truly competitive," Jorjani said.
China, in particular, seems to have reached a tipping point in terms of production quality. While the Chinese market remains heavily mobile‑centric—a factor that influences design sensibilities—the speed at which games are being created there is accelerating, partly thanks to artificial intelligence. "AI is pushing everything faster, everywhere," he noted, adding that the technology is amplifying the rapid output of Chinese developers.
The impact of AI on the industry is perhaps the most unpredictable element on the horizon. Jorjani stressed that, unlike previous hype cycles such as virtual reality, AI represents a genuine transformation.
He observed a stark cultural divide in how the technology is embraced. In the West, developers wrestle with ethical questions, data‑training permissions, and artistic integrity, often debating whether AI should be allowed to influence creative work.
In contrast, many Eastern studios appear indifferent to these concerns, adopting AI tools without hesitation because the primary goal is functional code rather than artistic expression. "Western developers are experiencing an existential crisis," Jorjani said.
"We are artists trying to connect with people, but when you reduce creation to software, it becomes purely functional. The West will be slower to adopt, but the shift is inevitable." Beyond AI, the sheer length of development cycles for AAA titles adds another layer of uncertainty. Projects that require five or six years and coordinate multiple teams across time zones are increasingly risky in a market that is evolving faster than ever.
This reality has nudged many Western publishers toward leveraging existing franchises rather than investing heavily in new intellectual property. Jorjani explained, "When development is long and the market is volatile, you need a brand that people recognize. That brand equity mitigates risk because players know what they’re getting." He illustrated this point with the phenomenon of "analysis paralysis" that plagues modern gamers.
With a flood of new releases, players often gravitate toward familiar names—such as the long‑standing Worms series—because they can instantly gauge the experience. Data from Steam Replay 2025 shows that roughly 44 % of playtime is spent on games that are between one and seven years old, indicating that consumers prefer established titles over fresh, untested IPs. While there is vocal demand for new experiences, purchasing behavior tells a different story; many gamers opt for remakes or sequels instead of brand‑new concepts. Jorjani pointed to companies like Riot Games and Supercell as examples of studios that maintain a portfolio of projects, allowing a single hit to offset the underperformance of other titles.
This model, he argued, offers a strategic advantage that indie developers can emulate. "The secret sauce of any successful game is early validation," he said. "The sooner you can show something to a real player and receive positive feedback, the more confidently you can iterate." Indie studios, with their shorter cycles and openness, excel at this rapid feedback loop.
They often share early screenshots or GIFs, gauge community reaction, and pivot quickly. Jorjani recalled the indie hit Tiny Glade, which gained momentum after early visual teasers went viral week after week. In contrast, a four‑year development timeline forces a studio to wait until the product is finished before launching a massive marketing push, missing the benefits of incremental validation.
Arrowhead itself is applying these lessons to its upcoming project. Inspired by mobile developers who test concepts through ad performance, the studio plans to put a prototype directly into the hands of a select group of players early in the process.
"We’ll give the game to about a hundred Helldivers fans and ask them about their favorite IPs and genres," Jorjani explained. "If they love aliens and enjoy Helldivers, we know we’re hitting the right niche. This early, targeted testing lets us refine the experience before broader user testing, rather than waiting two years to collect data." He concluded by emphasizing the need to abandon the old playbook of keeping a project under wraps for years before a grand reveal.
"You have to let go of the tradition of hiding your cards for a long time and then trying to dazzle the audience with a big splash," he said. "Early, transparent engagement is the new path to success in an industry that has fundamentally changed."