With over 12 million units sold and as the fastest-selling PlayStation title of all time, Helldivers 2 has enjoyed far more success than anyone could have anticipated- and that includes even Arrowhead Game Studios, the development team that built the game and continues to support it excellently with its post-launch efforts. With the game’s sudden and explosive success, however, the studio is also making some significant changes at the very top to be able to put itself in a position to leverage that better.
Helldivers 2 creative director and Arrowhead Game Studios boss Johan Pilestedt has announced on Twitter that he’s stepping down as the studio’s CEO, and will instead take on the role of Chief Creative Officer, which will allow him to focus more on the creative side of things. “I will spend more time with the team and 100% of my focus on the games and community,” Pilestedt writes.
Meanwhile, Arrowhead has hired Shams Jorjani as its new CEO. Jorjani was previously at Paradox Interactive for over 12 years before leaving in 2021. At Paradox, Jorjani started as a producer, before going on to become the chief business development officer. While at Paradox, he also helped ship and publish the first two games that Arrowhead developed as a studio, those being Magicka and The Showdown Effect.
“We go way back and I wouldn’t trust the business in any other hands than his (…and he comes with an impressive resume and love for games),” Pilested writes about Jorjani.