The CEO of Arrowhead, Johan Pilestedt, has been a shining beacon for Helldivers 2 since its release. He always engages with players, collects feedback, and acts on it. From now on, he’ll be able to do all that even more, as he’s switching roles within the studio.
On May 22, Pilestedt announced he’s decided to step down from his position, and Shams Jorjani will be taking over as the new CEO. “We go way back and I wouldn’t trust the business in any other hands than his,” Johan wrote about Jorjani, who previously was chief business development officer at Paradox Interactive.
In an interview with Gamesindustry.biz, Pilestedt explained he wanted to hire a dedicated CEO to focus more on game creation. “Over the last year going to launch of Helldivers 2, I’ve been pulled more towards the business side of things, and not able to focus as much on the creative side. That made me realise I needed to make some decisions, both for the success of the business but also myself,” he said.
Instead of being the CEO, Pilestedt is taking on the role of chief creative officer within Arrowhead. This means he can spend more time working on Helldivers 2 and be even more active in its community. “Not nearly done. But I care more about weapon balance than QBR,” Pilestedt wrote in response to one of the fan comments.
Further down in the comments, Pilestedt shared his approach to reviewing player feedback moving forward. “First thing we got to do is ensure we get more devs time playing the game. It’s hard to make the right decisions if the eyes aren’t on the road,” he wrote. “Secondly, I want to ensure we actively look at the sentiment and create a holistic view of WHY feedback is given,” Pilestedt added, mentioning his working theory is that the current TTK in Helldivers 2 is too high.
Last week, the former CEO talked to multiple players about weapon balance and making the game more fun. Now that he has more time to focus on the game, these and other in-game issues will finally get the attention they deserve.
