Andrei Zanescu
@andreizanescu.bsky.social
Postdoc Fellow in Communication Studies + Socio/Anthro @Concordia
Blockbuster Resonance & Prestige in AAA Games, Film & Awards Shows
Also Magic: The Gathering + Cultural Resonance
Streaming by the Rest of Us (2025, MIT Press)
www.andreizanescu.com
Blockbuster Resonance & Prestige in AAA Games, Film & Awards Shows
Also Magic: The Gathering + Cultural Resonance
Streaming by the Rest of Us (2025, MIT Press)
www.andreizanescu.com
Pinned
Andrei Zanescu
@andreizanescu.bsky.social
· Nov 10
Woke up to a ton of new followers, which is surreal. Welcome everyone!
I suppose this is a great time to do an intro to who I am and what I do, so buckle up.
tl;dr: I'm a media studies/coms assistant professor who works at the intersection of games and Hollywood.
Long version below, with photos!
I suppose this is a great time to do an intro to who I am and what I do, so buckle up.
tl;dr: I'm a media studies/coms assistant professor who works at the intersection of games and Hollywood.
Long version below, with photos!
Watched Weapons with my guinea pig. Neither of us will sleep well tonight.
November 3, 2025 at 10:56 PM
Watched Weapons with my guinea pig. Neither of us will sleep well tonight.
Reposted by Andrei Zanescu
Genre is inherently political. It captures the sensibilities of contemporary life and strategies for responding to the present that cultivate different futures
Updated/Final covers for a passion-project w/ @joshcall.bsky.social, @profmatthew.bsky.social, and @betsybrey.bsky.social
Out Jan 2026!
Updated/Final covers for a passion-project w/ @joshcall.bsky.social, @profmatthew.bsky.social, and @betsybrey.bsky.social
Out Jan 2026!
September 4, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Genre is inherently political. It captures the sensibilities of contemporary life and strategies for responding to the present that cultivate different futures
Updated/Final covers for a passion-project w/ @joshcall.bsky.social, @profmatthew.bsky.social, and @betsybrey.bsky.social
Out Jan 2026!
Updated/Final covers for a passion-project w/ @joshcall.bsky.social, @profmatthew.bsky.social, and @betsybrey.bsky.social
Out Jan 2026!
Reposted by Andrei Zanescu
This has been a project long in the making, and evolving from several years of conversations with good friends and colleagues. I'm beyond proud to have worked with everyone to help bring these to life.
Genre is inherently political. It captures the sensibilities of contemporary life and strategies for responding to the present that cultivate different futures
Updated/Final covers for a passion-project w/ @joshcall.bsky.social, @profmatthew.bsky.social, and @betsybrey.bsky.social
Out Jan 2026!
Updated/Final covers for a passion-project w/ @joshcall.bsky.social, @profmatthew.bsky.social, and @betsybrey.bsky.social
Out Jan 2026!
September 5, 2025 at 2:52 AM
This has been a project long in the making, and evolving from several years of conversations with good friends and colleagues. I'm beyond proud to have worked with everyone to help bring these to life.
Incoming book chapter in Epistemic Genres: New Formations of Play (www.bloomsbury.com/ca/epistemic...)
Really excited to finally be able to point to published work on blockbuster games, and my current thinking about AAA game aesthetics and discourses.
Really excited to finally be able to point to published work on blockbuster games, and my current thinking about AAA game aesthetics and discourses.
October 31, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Incoming book chapter in Epistemic Genres: New Formations of Play (www.bloomsbury.com/ca/epistemic...)
Really excited to finally be able to point to published work on blockbuster games, and my current thinking about AAA game aesthetics and discourses.
Really excited to finally be able to point to published work on blockbuster games, and my current thinking about AAA game aesthetics and discourses.
Me to my RAs: You need to protect your work/life balance as much as you can.
Me to me: Why are you not writing more, it's only 9pm?
Me to me: Why are you not writing more, it's only 9pm?
October 22, 2025 at 1:12 AM
Me to my RAs: You need to protect your work/life balance as much as you can.
Me to me: Why are you not writing more, it's only 9pm?
Me to me: Why are you not writing more, it's only 9pm?
Reposted by Andrei Zanescu
ALERT! ALERT! We're in the last days of being able to preorder my book EVERYTHING IS PERMITTED: ON ASSASSIN'S CREED, which is a book about the Assassin's Creed franchise and how games reflect and impact the real world! Click this link and use the code MN93450 for 30% off! z.umn.edu/14943
Everything Is Permitted
An entertaining deep dive into the world, gameplay, and evolution of the hugely successful Assassin’s Creed video game franchiseA hooded figure stands i...
z.umn.edu
October 2, 2025 at 4:05 PM
ALERT! ALERT! We're in the last days of being able to preorder my book EVERYTHING IS PERMITTED: ON ASSASSIN'S CREED, which is a book about the Assassin's Creed franchise and how games reflect and impact the real world! Click this link and use the code MN93450 for 30% off! z.umn.edu/14943
Reposted by Andrei Zanescu
Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.
Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry
Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry
Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.
buff.ly
October 8, 2025 at 10:29 AM
Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.
Waking up to news of the PIF EA buyout, on the one hand, and of the pro-EU win in the Moldovan election, on the other.
Wild morning.
Wild morning.
September 29, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Waking up to news of the PIF EA buyout, on the one hand, and of the pro-EU win in the Moldovan election, on the other.
Wild morning.
Wild morning.
Reposted by Andrei Zanescu
this feels catastrophic in ways few other big industry deals have
EA goes private in $55 billion deal, Andrew Wilson to remain as CEO. https://bit.ly/3WaGqnc
September 29, 2025 at 12:33 PM
this feels catastrophic in ways few other big industry deals have
Reposted by Andrei Zanescu
Diving back into media industries work this month and I’m absolutely blown away by @adewaard.bsky.social’s Derivative Media (2024).
His 2020 piece has been on my mind for years and the book is bigger, better and bolder.
If you’re a media industries, cultural studies or coms reader, check it out!
His 2020 piece has been on my mind for years and the book is bigger, better and bolder.
If you’re a media industries, cultural studies or coms reader, check it out!
DERIVATIVE MEDIA is out today with
@ucpress.bsky.social ! It's the first in-depth book on how Wall Street is harming film, television, and popular music. It's available in print or for free as an ebook. Please share!
www.ucpress.edu/books/derivative-media
bookshop.org/p/books/deri...
@ucpress.bsky.social ! It's the first in-depth book on how Wall Street is harming film, television, and popular music. It's available in print or for free as an ebook. Please share!
www.ucpress.edu/books/derivative-media
bookshop.org/p/books/deri...
August 7, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Diving back into media industries work this month and I’m absolutely blown away by @adewaard.bsky.social’s Derivative Media (2024).
His 2020 piece has been on my mind for years and the book is bigger, better and bolder.
If you’re a media industries, cultural studies or coms reader, check it out!
His 2020 piece has been on my mind for years and the book is bigger, better and bolder.
If you’re a media industries, cultural studies or coms reader, check it out!
Reposted by Andrei Zanescu
We've acquired the historic game magazine Computer Entertainer.
As in, we got the rights. We own the magazine. And we're putting it into the Creative Commons for anyone to use for free.
Learn more: gamehistory.org/computerente...
As in, we got the rights. We own the magazine. And we're putting it into the Creative Commons for anyone to use for free.
Learn more: gamehistory.org/computerente...
August 6, 2025 at 2:00 PM
We've acquired the historic game magazine Computer Entertainer.
As in, we got the rights. We own the magazine. And we're putting it into the Creative Commons for anyone to use for free.
Learn more: gamehistory.org/computerente...
As in, we got the rights. We own the magazine. And we're putting it into the Creative Commons for anyone to use for free.
Learn more: gamehistory.org/computerente...
My mom has truly tasked me with a herculean labour, she wants me to find her a Labubu in Canada, and a "reasonable" price.
August 1, 2025 at 6:38 PM
My mom has truly tasked me with a herculean labour, she wants me to find her a Labubu in Canada, and a "reasonable" price.
Reposted by Andrei Zanescu
Good morning! If the latest censorship chaos has been drifting across your feeds but you're still not clear what's going on, we made a podcast episode for you 👇
🎙️NEW EPISODE ALERT🎙️
Steam and itch pulled thousands of NSFW games 🔞 PLUS, find out how payment processors became censors 🤬 and how the UK’s Online Safety Act isn’t helping 🙅 Tune in here:
Steam and itch pulled thousands of NSFW games 🔞 PLUS, find out how payment processors became censors 🤬 and how the UK’s Online Safety Act isn’t helping 🙅 Tune in here:
UNBOXING Podcast
The UNBOXING podcast is a weekly dose of insight into play and profit for the gaming curious. Joost crunches data. Laine rummages in archives. Together these two NYU professors unlock the secrets of…
youtube.com
August 1, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Good morning! If the latest censorship chaos has been drifting across your feeds but you're still not clear what's going on, we made a podcast episode for you 👇
Reposted by Andrei Zanescu
One of the strangest (and most frustrating) quirks of the video game industry is that sales data is so opaque, you sometimes only get it when companies sue each other www.resetera.com/threads/hori...
Horizon Franchise Has Sold Over 38 Million Coppies Sales - Sony
As per the law suit today it was revealed that franshcise has passed over 38 Million Copies sold:
www.resetera.com
July 28, 2025 at 11:19 PM
One of the strangest (and most frustrating) quirks of the video game industry is that sales data is so opaque, you sometimes only get it when companies sue each other www.resetera.com/threads/hori...
Reposted by Andrei Zanescu
I've looked & I could have missed it, maybe its saved in their drafts but @ukieofficial.bsky.social TIGA, BFI, that new video game council. Which UK body representing games is stepping up to publicly speak about the mass censorship of the cultural form they represent?
www.polygon.com/news/615910/...
www.polygon.com/news/615910/...
Adult games are forcing the game industry into a spiritual crisis
Itchio joins Steam in pulling games due to pressure from extreme groups with an ongoing campaign aimed at payment processors
www.polygon.com
July 25, 2025 at 8:20 AM
I've looked & I could have missed it, maybe its saved in their drafts but @ukieofficial.bsky.social TIGA, BFI, that new video game council. Which UK body representing games is stepping up to publicly speak about the mass censorship of the cultural form they represent?
www.polygon.com/news/615910/...
www.polygon.com/news/615910/...
Announcement time! I’m starting a year-long postdoctoral research fellowship here at Concordia University. I’ll be working with Mia Consalvo and @drkowert.bsky.social on a @gamesforchange.bsky.social project studying cultural representation in videogames.
July 25, 2025 at 12:20 AM
Announcement time! I’m starting a year-long postdoctoral research fellowship here at Concordia University. I’ll be working with Mia Consalvo and @drkowert.bsky.social on a @gamesforchange.bsky.social project studying cultural representation in videogames.
Reposted by Andrei Zanescu
📢 If you would like take part in the workshop, please follow the link in the first comment, read the description, and send an email to [email protected] detailing in around 150 words your relation to postcolonialism and/or postcommunism and video games.
DEADLINE JULY 24
DEADLINE JULY 24
July 24, 2025 at 4:13 PM
📢 If you would like take part in the workshop, please follow the link in the first comment, read the description, and send an email to [email protected] detailing in around 150 words your relation to postcolonialism and/or postcommunism and video games.
DEADLINE JULY 24
DEADLINE JULY 24
Getting featured on the DiGRA early career showcase feels like a fever dream.
Now, I guess my book project anout #GameAwards (including @thegameawards.com) is out in the wild.
digra.org/malta-2025-h...
Now, I guess my book project anout #GameAwards (including @thegameawards.com) is out in the wild.
digra.org/malta-2025-h...
Malta 2025 Highlight: Early Career and Precarious Positions Showcase - DiGRA
We are delighted that the first ever Early Career and Precarious Positions Showcase was a huge success at DiGRA Malta 2025. Chaitanya Solanki (Mahindra University, India); Andrei Zanescu (Concordia Un...
digra.org
July 15, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Getting featured on the DiGRA early career showcase feels like a fever dream.
Now, I guess my book project anout #GameAwards (including @thegameawards.com) is out in the wild.
digra.org/malta-2025-h...
Now, I guess my book project anout #GameAwards (including @thegameawards.com) is out in the wild.
digra.org/malta-2025-h...
I need to stop telling @michaeliantorno.com how much I think about #PowerRangers, or I'll keep ending up with him making these memes.
July 11, 2025 at 7:56 PM
I need to stop telling @michaeliantorno.com how much I think about #PowerRangers, or I'll keep ending up with him making these memes.
Reposted by Andrei Zanescu
There’s a Hindi phrase (usually said by dads) for when someone leaves the lights on that translates to “Is it Diwali again?” A French version is “We’re not in Versailles!” But my favourite version, by far, is the Serbian “Was your grandpa Nikola Tesla?”
July 10, 2025 at 3:15 PM
There’s a Hindi phrase (usually said by dads) for when someone leaves the lights on that translates to “Is it Diwali again?” A French version is “We’re not in Versailles!” But my favourite version, by far, is the Serbian “Was your grandpa Nikola Tesla?”
Every year I feel like I’m not doing enough, until I have to fill out a departmental progress report and I see everything on the page in front of my eyeballs.
July 8, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Every year I feel like I’m not doing enough, until I have to fill out a departmental progress report and I see everything on the page in front of my eyeballs.
Decompressing after a conference day and rewatch Dune Part Two, and I still can't believe how excellent the Geidi Prime sequence is. #Dune
a black and white photo of a stadium with a shadow of a person
ALT: a black and white photo of a stadium with a shadow of a person
media.tenor.com
July 3, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Decompressing after a conference day and rewatch Dune Part Two, and I still can't believe how excellent the Geidi Prime sequence is. #Dune
This made me puke in my mouth
July 2, 2025 at 2:26 AM
This made me puke in my mouth