Dean Takahashi of GamesBeat talks about The Last of Us Part II with co-writer Halley Gross.
Dean Takahashi of GamesBeat talks about The Last of Us Part II with co-writer Halley Gross.
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How Naughty Dog embraced diversity in The Last of Us Part II

  • Posted byby Dean Takahashi
  • Updated
  • 10 min

The Last of Us Part II has won more than 300 game of the year awards, and we’re still talking about this beautiful yet horrifying game in 2021 because of its approach to diversity.

Naughty Dog’s sequel to The Last of Us debuted in June 2020 with a large and diverse cast behind its story of how someone will go to pursue revenge after losing someone they love. It’s about both love and hate, and how characters can be both heroes and villains at the same time. I spoke with Halley Gross at our GamesBeat Summit 2021 event about how she and her fellow Naughty Dog writers and designers infused this blockbuster with diversity.

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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.