Endings and beginnings: Welcome speech at the 1st independent GamesBeat Summit 2025

Well, I’m back. It feels like I just finished a 17-year journey, and now there’s a new one starting over again. As an English major, I loved to think about the last lines of the books I’ve read. Like The Great Gatsby’s ending: So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past. I puzzled over this line as a student. But I knew when I read the words that they were part of a great piece of literature. If you’re here. No, if you’re one of 3.5 billion gamers on the planet. You’re more likely to be pondering the meaning of the last line of your favorite video game. Because as we all know, game culture has risen to the point where it is now simply mass culture. I like how in the game The Last of Us, the opening scene and the last scene are like bookends. Some of our most popular stories at GamesBeat have been about the ending of BioShock, and how to get the right ending in Until Dawn. Our grandchildren are probably going to be quoting lines from games that are ... Read full article.