Neal Stephenson and Dean Takahashi talk about turning science fiction into reality.

Wētā Workshop teams up with Neal Stephenson’s Lamina1 Web3 platform

Wētā Workshop, known for its world-building for The Lord of the Rings movies, has teamed up with Neal Stephenson‘s Lamina1 Web3 company.

They are working on an interactive storytelling project on the Lamina1, which is being built as a creator-first platform. Stephenson is a prolific science fiction writer known for coining the term “metaverse” in Snow Crash, which debuted 30 years ago and created a vision for virtual world experiences. Decades later, he became inspired to help build the metaverse and he is getting ready to launch Snow Crash 2.

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.

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.