Shams Jorjani, the chief executive of Arrowhead Game Studios – the team 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 lost their relevance in today’s volatile 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." Several forces are driving this shift.
One of the most visible is the continued rise of developers in the Asia‑Pacific region. This year’s Gamescom Opening Night Live highlighted the growing technical and creative capabilities of studios from China and South Korea, underscoring a broader trend that Jorjani has observed for a decade. "There’s always been a general rise of Asian games and companies into the West," he explained. "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 the quality and ambition of its output.
Jorjani noted that while the Chinese market remains heavily mobile‑centric, this focus is accelerating development cycles and encouraging a faster iteration pace. "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 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 has emerged as perhaps the most disruptive technology of the moment. Jorjani warned that AI introduces a level of market unpredictability that makes medium‑term forecasting extremely difficult. He contrasted the attitudes of the West and the East toward AI adoption. In Western studios, developers grapple with ethical questions, data‑training rights, and artistic integrity, often hesitating to integrate AI until those concerns are resolved.
In contrast, many Eastern studios appear to embrace AI without moral reservation, treating it as a straightforward productivity tool. "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," he observed. Beyond technology, the sheer length of development cycles for AAA titles adds another layer of risk.
Large‑scale projects often span five to six years, involve multiple studios across different time zones, and demand massive financial commitments. This reality has pushed many Western publishers to lean on established IPs rather than gamble on new concepts. Jorjani explained, "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.
People know what they’re getting, so you can offset that risk." He highlighted how brand familiarity helps cut through the "analysis paralysis" that modern gamers face when confronted with an endless stream of new releases. A recognizable franchise like Worms, for example, offers a clear expectation, even if it may not be groundbreaking. Data from Steam Replay 2025 shows that roughly 44 % of player hours are spent on titles between one and seven years old, indicating that gamers often gravitate toward familiar experiences rather than untested newcomers.
"People scream for new games and IPs, but they don’t actually buy them. We tend to buy remakes," Jorjani said, noting that Arrowhead’s own breakthrough with Helldivers was partly a stroke of luck combined with a unique creative formula. Jorjani pointed to companies such as Riot Games and Supercell as examples of studios that maintain a portfolio of multiple projects, allowing a single hit to subsidize the others.
This model, he argued, creates a strategic advantage for indie developers, whose shorter cycles and ability to iterate quickly give them a distinct edge. "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." Indie teams often share early builds publicly—through GIFs, short videos, or beta streams—and gauge community reaction in real time. Jorjani cited the indie title Tiny Glade, which generated buzz after early GIFs went viral week after week.
By contrast, a four‑year AAA cycle that waits until a polished product is ready before any marketing push can miss the window of early consumer engagement. Arrowhead intends to incorporate this early‑validation mindset into its next project. The studio is experimenting with a mobile‑style approach, where concepts are tested via short ads or micro‑playtests to see which resonate most.
Jorjani explained, "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, 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." In summary, Jorjani believes the industry must abandon the old habit of keeping projects under wraps for years before a big reveal.
Instead, developers should embrace rapid feedback loops, leverage emerging AI tools responsibly, and recognize the growing influence of Asian studios. By doing so, even smaller teams can navigate the uncertain terrain of modern game publishing and find a foothold in a market where brand recognition, speed, and adaptability are becoming the new currency of success.