Cecilia D'Anastasio
reporter covering video games and digital culture for Bloomberg News
www.cecianasta.com
Discord: ehvee
Signal: Cecilia.01
- Reposted by Cecilia D'Anastasiothis is by the Post reporter whose house was just searched by the FBI www.nytimes.com/2026/01/14/u...
- “One day, a woman wrote to me on Signal, asking me not to respond. She lived alone, she messaged, and planned to die that weekend. Before she did, she wanted at least one person to understand: Trump had unraveled the government, and with it, her life.” @hannahnatanson.bsky.social essay:
- this is fantastic
- I wrote about why we should understand the metaverse hype cycle as a dress rehearsal for the generative AI hype cycle www.fastcompany.com/91467599/met...
- X updated Grok's image-generation feature so only paid users can make deepfakes. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
- New: 6,700. That's how many sexually suggestive or nudifying images Grok is producing every hour, according to an analysis. X is now a top deepfake site. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
- New: 6,700. That's how many sexually suggestive or nudifying images Grok is producing every hour, according to an analysis. X is now a top deepfake site. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
- New: FaZe talent left after a major contract dispute. Influencers had the option to go independent or sign with HardScope, formed by DraftKings co-founder Matt Kalish, who invested $10m in FaZe. Kalish says FaZe's current structure is "unsustainable." www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
- Roblox CEO Dave Baszucki donated $2.5 million to Trump's White House ballroom project, per NYT
- Scoop: Riot is overhauling League of Legends. The 16-year-old game's biggest update ever is planned for release in 2027. Internally it's called League Next. Story: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
- Reposted by Cecilia D'Anastasio[Not loaded yet]
- Wow. Nearly 80 lawsuits accusing Roblox of facilitating child exploitation are now centralized, Reuters reports: www.reuters.com/legal/govern...
- New: AAA gaming's star is falling. The industry of making $300 million games with Hollywood marketing campaigns is undergoing a correction. Today's favored Game Awards winner cost $10 million. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
- Reposted by Cecilia D'AnastasioHoly shit. Reuters reporting that new admin instructions on visas are if you worked at a platform in trust & safety or content moderation or on fact checking or online safety at an platform you *and your loved ones* are ineligible for H-1B visa. www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...
- New: MrBeast hasn't "put much too thought into" the impact of social media on kids' brains, he said in an interview with @andrewrsorkin.bsky.social. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
- Roblox has been banned in Russia, Turkey, Iraq, Oman and Qatar over some mix of child safety concerns and issues with LGBTQ content. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
- A strong and true report from the frontlines of tech accountability journalism by @caseynewton.bsky.social: "I'm noticing the degree to which platforms wish to be judged only by their stated intentions, and almost never on the outcomes of anyone who uses them." www.platformer.news/roblox-ceo-i...
- This will be my first year going to The Game Awards in LA :) Excited to check out fun events surrounding the show and set up some coffee chats and interviews ☀️
- New: How is Roblox's ads push going? 4 years in, ads remain an "insignificant" part of the business. Brands are weary of putting ads in the popular kids' gaming platform, and devs polled by @bloomberg.com aren't earning a ton of money yet. Deep dive: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
- New: Women working in the US games industry earn a quarter less than men on average, according to a new study -- significantly more than the average US gender pay gap: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
- Kudos and congrats to the most unhinged and least rigorous "video game extremism" take I've ever read, and the bar is soo high nypost.com/2025/11/13/t...
- If this happens in the games industry, I will be very unhappy www.wired.com/story/google...
- New: Web games are so back. Consoles cost $450, "app fatigue" is real, and browser games are booming. One ray of light for the struggling games industry: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
- I just switched from TikTok to Reels and am beginning to think we overhyped the TikTok algorithm..... instead of serving me makeup tutorials and niche influencer drama, Meta knows what I really want is memes for despairing ADC mains
- Roblox is doing gangbusters numbers. But this morning, shares fell despite record-smashing results. New safety features could "cause short-term friction to engagement and bookings," Roblox's CFO said today. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
- It's so cute when someone goes out of their way to post "I already knew that" under one of my articles. I wish I could pat you all on the head and congratulate you for having nothing to learn
- New: Internet celebrities like Jake Paul and MrBeast are paying armies of "clippers" to saturate social media with clips of their videos. This is the story of Anthony Fujiwara, 23 -- the secretive mastermind behind celebrities' clipping campaigns. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
- Update: The market value for Counter-Strike skins fell by $3 billion since Valve updated the game Wednesday evening. That's -48%. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
- Reposted by Cecilia D'Anastasio[Not loaded yet]
- New: The market for Counter-Strike skins fell $1.75 billion overnight -- that's 25%. Investors dumped money into the digital item market amid concerns about the S&P 500 and crypto. Then, last night, Valve pushed a market-breaking update to the game
- Reposted by Cecilia D'AnastasioSCOOP: For the last two years, Microsoft has pushed Xbox to hit profit margins of 30%, an ambitious target that's far higher than the industry average. This chase for profit has led Xbox to raise prices, cut thousands of jobs, and rethink everything. Story: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
- New: Inside Xbox's Game Pass price hike. Day-one Game Pass releases were long controversial, current and former employees tell me. Here's why (hint: Call of Duty sales) www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
- New: Roblox criticized by advocacy groups for categorizing games about marriage equality and affirmative action into a "sensitive issues" designation that's default restricted for kids under 13. Games with guns remain available www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
- Never played a game quite like Consume Me and I am totally obsessed. It's fun, smart, creative and surprising. And I love how it deals with a heavy topic with both humor and thoughtfulness. store.steampowered.com/app/2359120/...
- In neighborhoods near big data centers, electricity costs 267% more every month than it did 5 years ago, a Bloomberg investigation found: www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...
- Scoop: Saudi Arabia is the largest contributor to the $36 billion in equity put in to finance a deal to take Electronic Arts private. EA will help bridge the country's sports and video-game ambitions as it diversifies away from oil, analysts say. Story: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
- NYC losing BrookLAN and Bluestockings within a week is a travesty. NYC's commercial real estate situation is accelerating us toward a dark future where the internet is the only place young people are exposed to new ideas and communities.
- New: Here is suspected Charlie Kirk shooter Tyler Robinson's video game history, which is being investigated by US law enforcement, according to a source and a Bloomberg review. One of his Steam tags is Donald Trump. Story with Myles Miller: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
- Fantastic Ms. Rachel profile by @aishacounts.bsky.social and @felixgillette.bsky.social. The children's YouTube star is advocating for children in Gaza, and amid social-media controversy, says her posts have not shrunk her audience or damaged business relationships: www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
- New: Roblox announced a new TikTok-like app called Moments, capitalizing on the popularity of Roblox content on TikTok and YouTube. Players can capture and view short-form videos of Roblox gameplay. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
- Today, "Unsafe Online" with Olivia Carville won the Online Journalism Awards' "feature" category and was nominated for a Loeb award. We are so thrilled!! awards.journalists.org/entries/unsa...
- New: Blizzard cofounder's Dreamhaven is struggling in today's challenged games market per an internal letter. Its 2 new games sold below expectations. Dreamhaven now seeks funding It's not alone. Some of the most promising new studios are hitting roadblocks. Story: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
- I reached out to 440 moderators for this. It's a uniquely hard demographic to report on - one that's critical to the infrastructure of culture. Many live in job deserts and are afraid to speak out. Thankfully a lot of them did over concerns the AI they're training will replace them.
- New: AI is replacing human moderators. The moderators say it is really bad at the job. TikTok, Roblox, Meta and X say they'll rely more on AI to keep their sites safe. A dozen frontline moderators say the AI isn't ready, and even makes their jobs harder. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
- New: AI is replacing human moderators. The moderators say it is really bad at the job. TikTok, Roblox, Meta and X say they'll rely more on AI to keep their sites safe. A dozen frontline moderators say the AI isn't ready, and even makes their jobs harder. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
- Supervive is really fun
- Scoop: The SEC concluded an investigation involving Roblox back in May. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
