The DeanBeat: Our next game event focuses on growth and the metaverse

The game industry is so full of surprises, like Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez drawing more than 4.5 million views for her hilarious get-out-the-vote Twitch livestream of social game Among Us this week. As a political event, it drowned out Rudy Giuliani’s ploy to revive the Hunter Biden controversy via the New York Post.

Video games are prospering during the pandemic, in contrast to so many other less fortunate parts of the economy. But figuring out the surprises and navigating the opportunities is perilous with so many things happening at once. We have new consoles coming, disruptions in the mobile ad ecosystem, and lots of land mines when it comes to finding the right way to monetize gamers.

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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.