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 transformation. He described the current moment as a "transitional phase" and warned that the playbooks that guided developers and publishers throughout the 2010s have essentially become obsolete. "Sometimes there’s a sense of doom and gloom, but overall the industry is healthy," Jorjani said. "What’s changed is that the foundations of our assumptions have shifted dramatically.
The strategies that worked from 2010 to 2020 simply don’t apply any longer. The bottom line has been stripped from every business case we once relied on. No one could guarantee a title’s sales, yet they would assume a baseline figure.
Take that number, subtract everything, and you end up with zero—that’s the new reality." He identified three interlocking forces driving this upheaval. The first is the continued rise of developers in the Asia‑Pacific region.
This year’s Gamescom Opening Night Live, for instance, highlighted the growing creative muscle of studios from China and South Korea. "Asian games and companies have been making steady inroads into the Western market for the past decade," Jorjani observed, "but now we’re seeing a relentless stream of high‑quality releases that are reshaping expectations." China, in particular, appears to have reached a tipping point.
While the Chinese market remains heavily mobile‑centric—a factor that influences design sensibilities—the overall polish and ambition of Chinese‑made titles are accelerating. "The quality is definitely stepping up," Jorjani noted. "There’s still room to grow, but the pace is faster, especially with AI speeding up production pipelines across the board." Artificial intelligence, the second catalyst, has introduced a level of uncertainty that makes long‑term forecasting extremely difficult. Jorjani contrasted the West’s cautious, ethically‑driven debate around AI with the East’s pragmatic embrace.
In the West, developers wrestle with questions about data usage, moral implications, and artistic integrity. In many Asian studios, AI is treated as a straightforward tool: if it helps you write functional code, it’s adopted without hesitation.
"Western developers are experiencing an existential crisis because they see games as art as well as software," he explained. "In the East, the focus is purely functional, so adoption is quicker." The third challenge is the sheer length of development cycles for AAA titles. Large‑scale projects often span five to six years, involve multiple teams across different time zones, and require massive financial commitments. This reality has pushed many Western publishers toward leveraging existing franchises rather than taking risks on brand‑new IPs.
"When development times are long and the market is volatile, you need a safety net," Jorjani said. "A recognizable brand reduces risk because players know what they’re getting." He pointed out that the abundance of releases creates "analysis paralysis" for consumers. With a constant flood of new announcements, players gravitate toward familiar names.
"You might see a fresh title announced yesterday and think it looks cool, but you’ll still click on a classic like Worms because you know the experience," he remarked. Data supports this behavior: a recent Steam report indicated that roughly half of all playtime is spent on games older than 18 months, and 44 % of user hours are on titles between one and seven years old. While there is vocal demand for fresh experiences, purchasing patterns show a preference for remakes and established series.
Jorjani highlighted the strategic advantage that indie developers enjoy in this environment. Smaller studios can iterate quickly, gather early feedback, and pivot without the sunk‑cost inertia that plagues larger teams. "The secret sauce of any successful game is early validation," he asserted.
"If you can put a prototype in front of players and receive positive reactions, you know you’re on the right track and can iterate fast." He cited examples such as Tiny Glade, which gained momentum after early GIFs went viral, and noted that mobile developers have long used ad‑driven concept testing to gauge audience interest. Arrowhead intends to adopt a similar approach for its next project. "We’ll hand the game to a select group of 100 Helldivers fans early on and ask them about their favorite IPs and genres," Jorjani explained.
"If they love aliens and enjoy Helldivers, we’ll prioritize that feedback over a control group that simply likes Helldivers but not the alien theme. This lets us fine‑tune the experience before we invest years into full production." The CEO concluded that the industry must abandon the old habit of keeping projects under wraps for years before a grand reveal.
"We need to let go of the playbook that tells us to hide our cards until the very end," he said. "Instead, we should embrace transparency, rapid testing, and community‑driven iteration.
Only then can we navigate the unpredictable landscape shaped by longer development cycles, the surge of Asian competition, and the transformative power of AI." In summary, Jorjani’s message is clear: the assumptions that once guided game development have been upended by longer timelines, a booming Asian market, and AI‑driven disruption. While these forces create uncertainty, they also open doors for agile indie studios that can validate ideas early and adapt swiftly.
Arrowhead plans to leverage these insights, betting on early player involvement and a more experimental, data‑informed development process for its future titles.