Since Helldivers 2 took the world by storm, Johan Pilestedt has become a household name, with the Arrowhead CEO’s hands-on nature in terms of sharing updates on the game and openly interacting with its players having endeared him to a lot of Super Earth soldiers. Now, Pilestedt’s chosen to step down from being a CEO, staying on at the studio in a capacity that’s aimed to allow him to focus more heavily on the creative side of developing the game.
Yup, one of the very few CEOs you’ve ever been able to find responding to posts in a Reddit community – without coming off like either an annoying douche or that Steve Buscemi ‘how do you do, fellow kids’ meme – is gonna be getting to do more of what he seems to love most, working on Helldivers. Plus, given that the studio’s looking to spend more time getting the likes of updates and patches for the game just right, after some recent tweaks earned a bit of ire, this move seems like another positive step in helping Arrowhead be the best it can be.
So, what’s gone down? Well, as reported by GamesIndustry.biz, Arrowhead has named Shams Jorjani as its new CEO, with Pilestedt opting to give up that position, while retaining his roles as Arrowhead’s chief creative officer and chairman.
“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,” the latter said of the move, “That made me realise I needed to make some decisions, both for the success of the business but also myself.”
Having told GIBiz that the decision is “not only right for me, but it’s also right for the organisation”, Pilestedt said of Jorjani – who spent 12 years in senior roles at publisher Paradox Interactive – in a tweet: “we go way back and I wouldn’t trust the business in any other hands than his”.
He added that going forwards, he’ll be able to “spend MORE time with the team and 100% of my focus on the games and community”, now that Jorjani’s on hand to help take care of a lot of the business stuff that running a games studio entails.
How do you feel about this, Helldivers folks? Let us know below, and make sure to stay tuned for more Helldivers 2 news as the Second Galactic War rages on.