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 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 that 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." He identified three inter‑related 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 featured a string of high‑profile titles from China and South Korea, underscoring how Asian studios are no longer peripheral players but central contributors to the worldwide catalogue of games.
"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 quality tipping point. While the Chinese market remains heavily mobile‑centric—a factor that influences design sensibilities—the speed and ambition of its developers are accelerating, especially as artificial‑intelligence tools streamline production pipelines. "It is definitely picking up for sure," he said.
"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." The second catalyst is the emergence of AI as a transformative technology.
Unlike previous hype cycles—such as virtual reality—that often fizzled out, AI is already reshaping content creation, asset generation, testing, and even narrative design. Jorjani stressed that adoption patterns differ sharply between East and West. In many Western circles, the conversation centers on ethics, data ownership, and artistic integrity, whereas many Asian studios appear to be embracing AI pragmatically, with little moral hesitation.
"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. Whereas in the East, they absolutely do not care whatsoever," he explained. "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, and perhaps most concrete, challenge is the length of development cycles for AAA titles. Large‑scale projects often require five to six years of coordinated effort across multiple studios and time zones. This lengthy horizon forces publishers to lean heavily on established IPs and recognizable brands to mitigate financial risk.
Jorjani described how brand recognition acts as a safety net in a market flooded with new releases, leading to what he calls "analysis paralysis" for consumers. "People know what they’re getting, so you can offset that risk," he said.
"The reason that becomes important then is also the other trend we’re seeing: when you see so many more games being released all the time and you’re looking at all these games, you get analysis paralysis. You might recognise Worms, for example; it’s been around forever.
You know these ten other games announced two days ago are probably super cool; you might individually click through them to form an opinion. With Worms, you know what you’re getting." He cited Steam data indicating that roughly half of all playtime on the platform is spent on titles older than 18 months, suggesting that players gravitate toward familiar experiences rather than untested new IPs.
This dynamic explains why remakes and sequels continue to dominate sales charts, even as industry voices clamour for fresh ideas. Jorjani contrasted this risk‑averse environment with the agility of indie developers. He highlighted the concept of "early validation"—the practice of putting a prototype or even a short GIF in front of players as soon as possible to gauge reaction.
Indie studios, with their shorter cycles and willingness to share progress publicly, can iterate rapidly based on community feedback. "The secret sauce to any successful game is early validation," he asserted. "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 gave the example of the indie hit Tiny Glade, which generated buzz after the developers posted early animation loops that went viral week after week.
In contrast, a four‑year AAA cycle that waits until the final product is complete before launching a massive marketing push risks missing the optimal window for audience engagement. Arrowhead itself is adopting this indie‑style approach for its next project. Jorjani explained that the studio plans to involve a curated group of dedicated Helldivers fans early in development, using their preferences to steer design decisions. By segmenting the audience—identifying players who love both aliens and the Helldivers brand—the team can refine the experience before broader testing, thereby reducing uncertainty and aligning the product with a clearly defined niche.
"We’re going to be putting it in the hands of players right away as soon as possible," he 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.
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 that the industry must abandon the old habit of keeping projects under wraps for years and instead embrace transparency, rapid feedback loops, and a willingness to experiment with new technologies.
While the future remains uncertain—especially as AI continues to evolve and as Asian studios gain market share—the combination of early validation, brand leverage, and a more open development mindset offers a viable path forward for both established publishers and indie creators alike.