Arrowhead had an explosive begin to the 12 months when Helldivers 2 launched, as the sport shortly opened to constructive opinions and gross sales. With that momentum–and one controversial resolution by Sony–behind it, Arrowhead is trying to the longer term because it continues to determine its id whereas defying trade norms.
A part of this technique contains the appointment of Shams Jorjani as Arrowhead’s CEO, permitting the studio’s chief artistic officer and former CEO Johan Pilestedt to deal with creating video games. Collectively, the 2 companions intention to show Arrowhead into the subsequent From Software program or Blizzard.
For now, Arrowhead plans to stay unbiased and it does not foresee an enormous improve in its workforce. “We pleasure ourselves on being an unbiased studio,” Pilestedt stated to GamesIndustry.Biz. “We now have to see what the longer term holds, however there’s nothing within the plans the place we wish to be acquired by anyone. I wish to see how excessive we are able to fly. And bringing Shams on board, we have now a very good potential to comprehend that way forward for turning into the subsequent From Software program or Blizzard.”
Jorjani added that the studio nonetheless goals to make “actually nice co-op video games” and remodel Arrowhead into an enormous title within the video games trade. “After we had been rising up, we actually wished to work at Blizzard, it was one of many bucket listing locations to work at. I believe Arrowhead has the potential to be that,” Jorjani stated. “However that does not imply we have now to be a 500-person firm. Actually, a 500-person firm is sort of painful in a whole lot of methods. We’ll see development, however development as a way to an ends, not as an finish itself. We do not have plans to go public. None of these shenanigans. Measured development that permits us to make wonderful video games and be a very good place to work.”
Pilestedt added that the 2 do not run the corporate for financial acquire, because the “humbleness and the need to simply make nice video games” is the driving power behind them.
Helldivers 2 has been very profitable on PC and PS5, as Sony revealed that the sport offered 12 million items at launch to turn into the fastest-selling PlayStation sport of all time. This eclipses the earlier report set by God of Warfare Ragnarok, which offered 5 million copies within the first week. Up to now, Helldivers 2 is the best-selling sport of 2024 within the US.