Arrowhead Game Studios

Arrowhead Game Studios
Company typeAB
IndustryVideo games
Founded
Founders
  • Johan Pilestedt
  • Emil Englund
  • Malin Hedström
  • Anton Stenmark
  • Robin Cederholm
Headquarters
Stockholm
,
Sweden
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
  • Johan Pilestedt (CCO)
  • Shams Jorjani (CEO)
Number of employees
~120[1] (2024)
WebsiteArrowheadGameStudios.com

Arrowhead Game Studios is an independent Swedish video game developer. It was established in 2008 by a group of Luleå University of Technology students studying in Skellefteå.[2][3] The company gradually moved to Stockholm in 2011–2012.[3] As of 2024, the studio employs about 120 people.[4]

History

Their first game, Magicka, won the Game of the Year award at the Swedish Game Awards 2008.[5] In 2011, Magicka was released, published by Paradox Interactive, after a contract with the publisher was signed in 2009.[2]

In the following years, Arrowhead developed The Showdown Effect, a 2.5D multiplayer action game inspired by 1980s and 1990s action movies, for which they stuck with Paradox Interactive to publish it in 2013, and Gauntlet, a co-op dungeon action game, which was published by WB Games in 2014.[2]

In 2015, Arrowhead developed Helldivers, which was published by Sony Computer Entertainment for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, and Windows.[2] A sequel, Helldivers 2, was first teased in 2021 and released in 2024 by Sony Interactive Entertainment for PlayStation 5 and Windows.[6]

On 22 May 2024, Johan Pilestedt announced that he had stepped down as CEO and hired Shams Jorjani, a longtime business associate to succeed him. Pilestedt assumed the role of chief creative officer (CCO) in order to fully involve himself in game development.[7]

Games

Title Genre(s) Publisher(s) Platform(s) Ref
2011 Magicka Action-adventure Paradox Windows
2013 The Showdown Effect Action Windows, OS X
2014 Gauntlet Hack and slash, dungeon crawl WB Games Windows, PS4 [8]
2015 Helldivers Shoot 'em up Sony Interactive Entertainment Windows, PS3, PS4, Vita
2024 Helldivers 2 Third-person shooter Windows, PS5 [9]

Awards

References

  1. ^ "Recruitment, Jobs & Open Positions". Arrowhead Game Studios. Retrieved 2024-01-30.
  2. ^ a b c d Hedström, Malin (27 January 2013). "Arrowhead – A semi-brief history". Arrowhead Game Studio. Retrieved 22 November 2015.
  3. ^ a b "Magicka har passerat två miljoner sålda". Norran (in Swedish). 14 October 2016.
  4. ^ "Recruitment, Jobs & Open Positions". Arrowhead Game Studios. Retrieved 2024-01-30.
  5. ^ a b "Swedish Game Awards 2008 – Profile for entry Magicka". Swedish Game Awards. 2008. Archived from the original on 23 November 2015. Retrieved 22 November 2015.
  6. ^ "Helldivers 2 launches February 8, 2024". PlayStation.Blog. 2023-09-14. Retrieved 2024-01-30.
  7. ^ Yin-Poole, Wesley (22 May 2024). "The Boss of Helldivers 2 Dev Arrowhead Is Now Its Chief Creative Officer: 'I Care More About Weapon Balance Than QBRs'". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved 24 May 2024.
  8. ^ Cook, Dave (17 March 2014). "Gauntlet reboot revealed for Steam by publisher Warner Bros, first trailer here". VG247. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
  9. ^ "How the names Arrowhead Game Studios and Helldivers 2 came to be". PlayStation Blog. 16 May 2024. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
  10. ^ "Academy Membership Honors 19th D.I.C.E. Awards Winners" (PDF). Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. February 18, 2016. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 20, 2016. Retrieved February 24, 2016.