YouTuber MatPat Announces He's Retiring, Reveals What Will Happen to 'The Game Theorists' Channels
Matthew Patrick, aka MatPat, has announced on Tuesday (January 7) that he is stepping away from the platform and retiring after 13 years on YouTube!
The 37-year-old started the The Game Theorists channel on YouTube in 2011 with his wife Stephanie, and since has gained over 18 million subscribers on that channel.
On the channel, MatPat has explored “the vast lore of Minecraft, piece together the craziest FNAF conspiracies, and cover the whole world of indie gaming.”
He has also started spinoff channels The Film Theorists, The Food Theorists, The Style Theorists and GTLive. All five combined have upwards of 41 million subscribers and over 9 billion views!
Find out more about MatPat’s retirement inside…
MatPat, of course, took to YouTube to share his retirement announcement, in a tearful new video posted Tuesday.
“This has been a third of my life, and I’m gonna miss you. I’m going to miss this,” he said. “I value what we have here. I value this conversation. I value this openness, this relationship that we share, and I’m sad that I won’t be able to see you every week, which then I guess prompts the question of why am I doing this.”
Mat then goes on to explain that he and his wife Stephanie knew this day would come, they just didn’t know when. To prepare for a time when he did step away, over the past couple of years, they have been “staffing up” and partnered with a larger company to help run the channels.
He noted that he has loved doing the theory videos, but didn’t love late nights, or that they have put work first for many years. Mat shared that a big reason for leaving is to just spend more time with his wife without having everything revolved around work, like playing video games or thinking about theories. He also notes that the internet is changing, and his personal life has changed, with his son growing up, and even Mat himself getting older.
So, what happens next?
MatPat reveals that it won’t just be one person taking over the channels, but multiple.
“It’s time to pass it on to the next generation. It’s time to give someone else a shot,” he said. “It’s not going to be one person, but rather four. I would not wish my schedule on anyone.”
Those taking over the channels are people that viewers are familiar with and have already seen on the channels before!
Lee will take over The Film Theorists, Amy will take over The Style Theorists, Santi will take over on The Food Theorists, and Tom will take over on the main channel, The Game Theorists.
March 9th will be MatPat‘s final video, and he will also appear on GTLive for the foreseeable future, “probably until the end of the summer.” He will also still be working with those mentioned above, and he will be working on other projects on the channels and elsewhere.
Check out MatPat’s goodbye video right here…