Grand Theft Auto V
Grand Theft Auto V
Categories

The DeanBeat: A week full of revenge and reinvention

  • Posted byby Dean Takahashi
  • Updated
  • 4 min

It was another astounding week of news for video games. Grand Theft Auto V sold more than $800 million on its first day of sales. Electronic Arts named its relatively young EA Sports chief, Andrew Wilson, as its new CEO. And, sadly, Nintendo’s pioneering former president Hiroshi Yamauchi passed away at age 85.

These events were disconnected from each other, but they happened against the backdrop of change in the modern video game business. What do they mean? Let’s take a minute to digest them together and interpret them in the big picture of the industry.

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.