The head of Helldivers 2 steps down as CEO and hires a replacement so he can focus more on his passion: developing games.
Who is the person you are talking about? Johan Pilestedt is the creative director of Helldivers 2 and was also the CEO of the development studio Arrowhead Games until May 22, 2024.
Pilestedt is extremely popular with the Helldibers 2 community because he communicates very openly on social networks, especially x.com. He repeatedly shares interesting information about the development of the shooter, answers questions from players and explains the decisions the team makes.
For example, when the shooter was released, Pilestedt advised not to spend any money on Helldivers 2 because the servers were still causing problems. He also explained how the game’s humor came about and, after repeated criticism of the numerous balancing changes, said he believed they had gone too far with the nerfs.
Helldivers boss demotes himself
What’s the deal with the new CEO? Pilestedt announced on x.com that he is stepping down as CEO of Arrowhead Games. He appointed Shams Jorjani as the new CEO, who, according to Pilestedt, has a great love for video games and is much more organized than Pilestedt himself.
In the same breath, Pilestedt announced that he would now be the CCO (Chief Creative Officer), which he said would mean he would spend more time with the team. The new role also allows him to focus 100% on the games and the community.
In another post, Pilestedt almost summed it up: “This allows me to concentrate on my passion of developing the greatest games for you! […]“
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What are Pilestedt’s new tasks? As Pilestedt reveals to gamesindustry.biz, his everyday work has recently shifted increasingly towards the business side and he has no longer been able to focus as much on the creative side as he would have liked.
While Shams Jorjani, as the new CEO, will now primarily take care of the organization and management, Pilestedt’s main task is to advance the creative side of the studio. Jorjani should enable Pilestedt to create more games like Helldivers 2.
Pilestedt wants to make sure, as he revealed on x.com, that more of the studio’s developers actually play Helldivers 2 and get a feel for the game. This is important so that they make the right decisions for the game. Decisions such as adjusting enemy spawns: Too many enemies in Helldivers 2 caused frustrated players – new update should help