How a Game Lives

by Jacob Geller

Overview

The first of two volumes: How a Game Lives, Vol. 1 is an artfully packaged must-have book for the devoted and casual fans alike, inviting readers to look at gaming and video games from an intellectual, psychological, and emotional perspective as a major part of our cultural fabric.

Jacob Geller has 1 million subscribers to his YouTube channel, where he shares in-depth videos on modern gaming and analysis of the games themselves— interwoven with conversations about politics, art, history and popular culture. Placing video games into the larger media, cultural and artistic context, How a Game Lives, Vol.1 will be a stunning four-color collection that takes Geller’s most popular YouTube essays, puts them into print for the first time, and updates them with full annotation by Geller himself and commentary by other writers. Illustrated throughout with original artwork inspired by the games, How a Game Lives, Vol. 1 is truly unique.

 The games covered in this volume include:

•  The Legend of Zelda series
• Shadow of the Colossus
• Returnal
• Control
• Call of Duty
• and more...

Geller has taught audiences how to think about video games as art, and how that art has affected them. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780063483194
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	11/18/2025
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	7.50(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.72(d)

About the Author

Jacob Geller is an American video essayist, critic, and writer known for his analysis of video games and popular culture. Geller's YouTube channel has over 1.2 million subscribers, with videos covering topics like horror, art, frigophobia, thalassophobia, and social justice. He published an annotated print collection of his essays in 2024. Geller's career has included writing for Polygon, which named his 2019 video essay "Games, Schools, and Worlds Designed for Violence" as one of the best in YouTube's history. He is the host of the podcast Something Rotten.