Pedro Pascal as Joel and Bella Ramsey as Ellie in HBO's The Last of Us.
Pedro Pascal as Joel and Bella Ramsey as Ellie in HBO's The Last of Us.
Categories

Gaming’s renewal of vows with Hollywood and more on UGC/generative AI | The DeanBeat

  • Posted byby Dean Takahashi
  • Updated
  • 4 min

I worked a couple of days in Santa Monica, California, this week to get a fresh perspective on games. It was my third visit to Los Angeles in recent weeks and a fruitful one, as Southern California has become a vibrant hub for the gaming business in the Golden State.

It’s vibrant because we’ve seen gaming and Hollywood get married again, thanks to the huge success of The Last of Us television show on HBO, which continues to see millions of people watching every week and boosting sales of the game series.

Unlock premium content and VIP community perks with GB M A X! Join now to enjoy our free and premium perks. 

Join now →

Sign in to your account.

Written by

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.