Oh my, how far we’ve come!
Arrowhead is incredibly lucky to have welcomed so many people into the family over the last few years. We’ve employed over 30 people in the past 3 years alone, making it a successful and unprecedented growth for our studios. And it’s no secret that for these past three years we’ve been working on our biggest and most ambitious project to date… *cough* HYPE *cough*!
But now, as of 2020, Arrowhead employs around 60 individuals. This is a huge difference compared to a decade earlier when Arrowhead was founded with just 5 people. We’ve seen a few people come and go over the years, with most going on to try out some solo projects (very best of luck to you guys, we can’t wait to play them!!). But mostly the same faces have stuck around for what seems like forever! Four of the five original founders, Malin, Anton, Emil and Johan are still at the helm, always on a mission to make kick-ass games!
It’s definitely been an exciting journey and we’ve quickly learnt that we have had to adapt if we want to succeed. We don’t just mean physically with new office space, but mentally too! One of the biggest changes has been going from a “little indie company” mindset to a real, functioning medium sized company. Our projects are not just small indie projects anymore – we have grand plans and ambitions! And we couldn’t achieve this without the awesome team behind us.
One challenge with such a big team is to continually try to keep the family feeling. We do this by encouraging afterwork activities and team building dates as much as possible. If you want to share your hobby with others and start a group, Arrowhead have a “hobby” allowence, making it possible to buy supplies and get started. There are numerous groups already running at Arrowhead – puzzles, RPGs, knitting, 3D printing…you name it! Most days you’ll find a group holed up in the Hobby room, either painting or sewing or playing. We have popcorn and film nights on the sofas. We have Magic the Gathering battles. We have food-offs. We have Pokemon battles…the list goes on.
Arrowhead also regularly offers team building day(s). We’ve been flown to a castle in Italy. We’ve enjoyed a summer boat trip. We’ve had a floating sauna on the Hammarby waterfront. We’ve had a spa trip in the archipelago. We’ve bashed each other with go-karts. Not to mention the numerous and infamous Arrowhead parties we’ve thrown. It’s just getting harder to think of what new and exciting things we can do with such a big group. If you have any suggestions please let us know! ;)