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 transitional period. He argued that the tactics and expectations that guided developers and publishers throughout the 2010s have largely lost their relevance in today’s market. "There have been moments of pessimism, but overall the industry remains healthy," Jorjani observed. "What’s changed fundamentally is the foundation of the assumptions we once relied on.
The playbooks that guided us from 2010 to 2020 simply don’t work any longer. The bottom line has been stripped from every business case. No one ever really knew how many copies a title would sell, but they at least guessed a minimum figure.
Now you have to subtract that number entirely—that’s the new reality." Several forces are driving this upheaval. One of the most visible is the continued rise of developers from the Asia‑Pacific region. This year’s Gamescom Opening Night Live highlighted the impressive output of studios in China and South Korea, underscoring how Asian creators are increasingly shaping the global catalogue. "For a decade we’ve seen Asian games and companies make inroads into the West," Jorjani explained.
"Now it’s a steady stream—game after game—proving that they can compete at the highest level." China, in particular, appears to have reached a tipping point in terms of production quality. While the Chinese market remains heavily mobile‑centric, that focus has cultivated a distinct design sensibility that is now spilling over into PC and console experiences. Jorjani noted that artificial intelligence is accelerating this cross‑pollination, allowing titles to be built and released at unprecedented speed. "The Chinese scene is definitely picking up," he said.
"There’s still a journey ahead, but the sensibilities are evolving. Because the audience is mobile‑first, developers think differently about pacing, monetisation, and player engagement.
AI is turbo‑charging that evolution, pushing more games out faster than ever before." Artificial intelligence, perhaps more than any other recent technology, has introduced a layer of uncertainty that makes long‑term forecasting extremely difficult. Jorjani contrasted the way AI is being embraced in the East versus the West. In Western markets, conversations often revolve around ethics, data ownership, and artistic integrity, whereas many Asian studios appear less concerned with those debates and more focused on practical implementation. "In the West we’re asking if it’s ethical, whether companies should be allowed to train on certain data, and if we should push back on ideological or artistic grounds," he said.
"In the East, the attitude is more pragmatic—if it works, they use it. It’s similar to what I see among my friends in the broader IT sector: everyone has migrated to AI without major moral qualms because the end goal is functional code, not necessarily a human‑centric artistic experience." Jorjani admitted that Western developers are experiencing an existential dilemma. As an artist himself, he feels the tension between creating expressive experiences and treating games as merely functional software.
He predicts that the West will adopt AI more slowly, but the shift is inevitable. Beyond AI, another major obstacle to predicting the future lies in the lengthy development cycles of AAA titles. Creating a blockbuster often demands five to six years of coordinated effort across multiple studios and time zones.
This reality has nudged many Western publishers toward leveraging existing franchises rather than investing heavily in new intellectual property. "Multiple forces are at play," Jorjani noted.
"Development cycles remain long, and when the market is shifting you need a very solid bet. Brand recognition is the primary risk mitigator.
Players know what they’re getting with a familiar name, which cushions the financial gamble." He illustrated this point with the phenomenon of “analysis paralysis.” With an ever‑growing flood of releases, consumers can become overwhelmed. A well‑known series 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 playtime is spent on games that are between one and seven years old, indicating that players gravitate toward titles they already recognise rather than chasing untested new IPs. Jorjani highlighted the success of companies such as Riot Games and Supercell, which maintain a portfolio of projects where one breakout hit often overshadows the rest.
He believes indie developers possess a strategic advantage in this environment because they can iterate quickly and validate concepts early. "The secret sauce for any successful game is early validation," he asserted. "The sooner you can put something in front of a real person and get positive feedback, the more confident you are that you’re on the right track. That’s the strength of software development.
Indie studios excel here because their cycles are short, and they share progress openly—posting a GIF, watching the community react, and adjusting instantly." He recounted the rapid rise of the indie title Tiny Glade, which gained momentum after early animated clips went viral week after week. By contrast, a four‑year AAA cycle forces studios to wait until the product is finished before launching a massive marketing push, risking misalignment with player expectations. Arrowhead is adopting this early‑feedback mindset for its next project.
Jorjani explained that the studio is inspired by mobile‑gaming practices, where developers test concepts through ads and iterate based on performance metrics. "We’ll get the game into players’ hands as early as possible," he said.
"Our philosophy has always been to craft experiences for a specific connoisseur, not just any action‑game fan. We plan to give a hundred Helldivers enthusiasts a prototype, ask them about their favourite IPs, and see how they respond to alien‑themed content versus other genres. If that cohort rates the game higher than a control group that likes Helldivers but not aliens, we know we’ve hit a niche that matters.
Doing this early, rather than waiting two years for broad user testing, is crucial." In closing, Jorjani warned that embracing this new approach requires abandoning the old playbook of keeping development secrets for years before a grand reveal. Instead, studios must be willing to expose early builds, gather data, and iterate rapidly.
"The industry is changing at a pace we never imagined," he concluded. "Long development timelines, the surge of Asian talent, and AI’s disruptive power mean the old assumptions are obsolete.
Indie teams, with their agility and focus on early validation, are well‑positioned to thrive in this brave new landscape. The key is to let go of the traditional, closed‑door development model and embrace openness, speed, and community feedback from day one."