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
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.
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.
This made me puke in my mouth
July 2, 2025 at 2:26 AM
This made me puke in my mouth
I can talk about it, finally! After years of tireless work and wrangling a bunch of authors together, @andrei-nae.bsky.social's edited collection "Video Games Between Postcolonialism and Postcommunism" is coming out on December 14th, 2025.
Look out for my chapter, "Anti-Balkanism in The Witcher"!
Look out for my chapter, "Anti-Balkanism in The Witcher"!
June 25, 2025 at 4:31 PM
I can talk about it, finally! After years of tireless work and wrangling a bunch of authors together, @andrei-nae.bsky.social's edited collection "Video Games Between Postcolonialism and Postcommunism" is coming out on December 14th, 2025.
Look out for my chapter, "Anti-Balkanism in The Witcher"!
Look out for my chapter, "Anti-Balkanism in The Witcher"!
Justice show in Montreal, and tomorrow conference season starts - here’s hoping I hear your talks.
June 7, 2025 at 2:42 AM
Justice show in Montreal, and tomorrow conference season starts - here’s hoping I hear your talks.
The things I want to say, but am not allowed to right now 👀‼️
June 5, 2025 at 4:19 PM
The things I want to say, but am not allowed to right now 👀‼️
Sometimes your research happens at you.
May 6, 2025 at 7:19 PM
Sometimes your research happens at you.
We're now less than a month away from the release of Streaming by the Rest of Us: Microstreaming Videogames on Twitch (February 18th)!
Please share far and wide, and feel free to get in touch with myself, Mia Consalvo or Marc Lajeunesse!
Please share far and wide, and feel free to get in touch with myself, Mia Consalvo or Marc Lajeunesse!
January 30, 2025 at 5:44 PM
We're now less than a month away from the release of Streaming by the Rest of Us: Microstreaming Videogames on Twitch (February 18th)!
Please share far and wide, and feel free to get in touch with myself, Mia Consalvo or Marc Lajeunesse!
Please share far and wide, and feel free to get in touch with myself, Mia Consalvo or Marc Lajeunesse!
I'm officially joining the Sociology & Anthropology Department at Concordia as a Postdoctoral Fellow through the Risk Logics cluster.
I'll be running a project on #MagictheGathering and draft, focused on content creators, player ethos and data tools.
Hit me up if this is your wheelhouse!
I'll be running a project on #MagictheGathering and draft, focused on content creators, player ethos and data tools.
Hit me up if this is your wheelhouse!
January 28, 2025 at 4:19 PM
I'm officially joining the Sociology & Anthropology Department at Concordia as a Postdoctoral Fellow through the Risk Logics cluster.
I'll be running a project on #MagictheGathering and draft, focused on content creators, player ethos and data tools.
Hit me up if this is your wheelhouse!
I'll be running a project on #MagictheGathering and draft, focused on content creators, player ethos and data tools.
Hit me up if this is your wheelhouse!
I guess my pod taste is hearing movie productions being on fire, the movie industry being on fire, media industries being on fire, or the world being on fire.
Bonus points when @seanfennessey.bsky.social lets loose, whether the movie's great or awful.
Bonus points when @seanfennessey.bsky.social lets loose, whether the movie's great or awful.
December 6, 2024 at 12:24 AM
I guess my pod taste is hearing movie productions being on fire, the movie industry being on fire, media industries being on fire, or the world being on fire.
Bonus points when @seanfennessey.bsky.social lets loose, whether the movie's great or awful.
Bonus points when @seanfennessey.bsky.social lets loose, whether the movie's great or awful.
French theory comes at you pretty directly sometimes.
November 28, 2024 at 12:34 AM
French theory comes at you pretty directly sometimes.
Got my first “prof’s office decoration” from a friend.
My quest to discover all Fanta flavours continues.
My quest to discover all Fanta flavours continues.
November 26, 2024 at 8:11 PM
Got my first “prof’s office decoration” from a friend.
My quest to discover all Fanta flavours continues.
My quest to discover all Fanta flavours continues.
I've been programming a critical viewing series with @marclaj.bsky.social here at Concordia. Game adaptations, game-adjacent or technoculture-related movies.
Tonight we watched WarGames (1983) and it's weird to see how future tech looked ten years before a widely available consumer internet.
Tonight we watched WarGames (1983) and it's weird to see how future tech looked ten years before a widely available consumer internet.
November 21, 2024 at 2:08 AM
I've been programming a critical viewing series with @marclaj.bsky.social here at Concordia. Game adaptations, game-adjacent or technoculture-related movies.
Tonight we watched WarGames (1983) and it's weird to see how future tech looked ten years before a widely available consumer internet.
Tonight we watched WarGames (1983) and it's weird to see how future tech looked ten years before a widely available consumer internet.
Blockbusters and in-betweeners success is often interlinked (2020, 192), where audience tastes shift over years to favor one or the other.
For games, this might entail a resurgence of AA titles that have been out of the limelight for the past decade. Especially in genres that bank of "quality."
For games, this might entail a resurgence of AA titles that have been out of the limelight for the past decade. Especially in genres that bank of "quality."
November 15, 2024 at 3:47 PM
Blockbusters and in-betweeners success is often interlinked (2020, 192), where audience tastes shift over years to favor one or the other.
For games, this might entail a resurgence of AA titles that have been out of the limelight for the past decade. Especially in genres that bank of "quality."
For games, this might entail a resurgence of AA titles that have been out of the limelight for the past decade. Especially in genres that bank of "quality."
The pod features broader discussions about game industries, specific titles and franchises, and we'll be doing a deeper dive into @thegameawards.bsky.social as we enter the season.
If you're part of the games industry, journalism or academia and would like join us or pitch an idea, let me know!
If you're part of the games industry, journalism or academia and would like join us or pitch an idea, let me know!
November 15, 2024 at 3:35 PM
The pod features broader discussions about game industries, specific titles and franchises, and we'll be doing a deeper dive into @thegameawards.bsky.social as we enter the season.
If you're part of the games industry, journalism or academia and would like join us or pitch an idea, let me know!
If you're part of the games industry, journalism or academia and would like join us or pitch an idea, let me know!
Writing today for the Game Awards book, and it still boggles my mind that Spike TV, where the VGAs were run, promoted itself as the "first network for men" *from 2003-2005*.
@drtvlotz.bsky.social has a great chapter in From Networks to Netflix about Spike's branding attempts if anyone's interested.
@drtvlotz.bsky.social has a great chapter in From Networks to Netflix about Spike's branding attempts if anyone's interested.
November 13, 2024 at 4:20 PM
Writing today for the Game Awards book, and it still boggles my mind that Spike TV, where the VGAs were run, promoted itself as the "first network for men" *from 2003-2005*.
@drtvlotz.bsky.social has a great chapter in From Networks to Netflix about Spike's branding attempts if anyone's interested.
@drtvlotz.bsky.social has a great chapter in From Networks to Netflix about Spike's branding attempts if anyone's interested.
I've also been working on game platforms and distribution since 2017, publishing about the increasing reliance of game passes and the gamblification of game distribution.
The somewhat infamous games-as-service debate that's been percolating since horse armor in Skyrim, but we worked on DOTA 2.
The somewhat infamous games-as-service debate that's been percolating since horse armor in Skyrim, but we worked on DOTA 2.
November 10, 2024 at 5:06 PM
I've also been working on game platforms and distribution since 2017, publishing about the increasing reliance of game passes and the gamblification of game distribution.
The somewhat infamous games-as-service debate that's been percolating since horse armor in Skyrim, but we worked on DOTA 2.
The somewhat infamous games-as-service debate that's been percolating since horse armor in Skyrim, but we worked on DOTA 2.
With the recent Universes Beyond kerfuffle, I'd love to draw attention to the fact that this is a key example of blockbuster resonance in action: expecting players to pick up the game if they see IP they recognize, over taking risks with your own artistic vision.
November 10, 2024 at 5:06 PM
With the recent Universes Beyond kerfuffle, I'd love to draw attention to the fact that this is a key example of blockbuster resonance in action: expecting players to pick up the game if they see IP they recognize, over taking risks with your own artistic vision.
If you'd like to read a deep dive on Assassin's Creed (Origins and Odyssey) and Magic the Gathering (Amonkhet and Theros Beyond Death), you can check out my open access dissertation anytime.
spectrum.library.concordia.ca/id/eprint/99...
spectrum.library.concordia.ca/id/eprint/99...
November 10, 2024 at 5:06 PM
If you'd like to read a deep dive on Assassin's Creed (Origins and Odyssey) and Magic the Gathering (Amonkhet and Theros Beyond Death), you can check out my open access dissertation anytime.
spectrum.library.concordia.ca/id/eprint/99...
spectrum.library.concordia.ca/id/eprint/99...
Resonance, in the "that resonates with me" way, is often used to entail recognition or affirmation of media representations matching existing beliefs.
The trap of resonance is roughly: if we want to match existing beliefs, whose do we privilege? What do we cut? What are the business implications?
The trap of resonance is roughly: if we want to match existing beliefs, whose do we privilege? What do we cut? What are the business implications?
November 10, 2024 at 5:06 PM
Resonance, in the "that resonates with me" way, is often used to entail recognition or affirmation of media representations matching existing beliefs.
The trap of resonance is roughly: if we want to match existing beliefs, whose do we privilege? What do we cut? What are the business implications?
The trap of resonance is roughly: if we want to match existing beliefs, whose do we privilege? What do we cut? What are the business implications?