“But hey, that’s just a theory. A game theory!” By now, I’m sure you’ve heard those words at least once. Everyone knows MatPat, the creator and figurehead of “The Game Theorists” YouTube channel along with 3 others titled “The Film Theorists,” “The Food Theorists,” and “The Style Theorists.”
The channels make videos showcasing theories about the topic listed in their channel‘s title. “The Game Theorists” make theories on the lore of many video games, most notably the “Five Nights At Freddy’s” series.
MatPat became a meme online for his iconic catchphrase stated earlier. That changed on January 9th this year, when a video was uploaded to The Game Theorists YouTube channel titled “Goodbye Internet.”
As a long-time fan of The Game Theorists, I was shocked when I saw this title and I wasn’t alone. The video starts with MatPat sitting on the couch used in most serious videos and GT Live as he says “It’s not clickbait. On March 9th I’ll be hosting my last theory episode, at which point I’ll be handing off the channels to someone else.”
The video shook the entire internet. One of the most iconic YouTubers, MatPat, is retiring- but why? Despite the shock, MatPat included his reasons in the video. He says he didn’t want to keep making theories forever.
He has a family and a life outside of the internet, and as he stated in the video “We knew that we couldn’t do this forever. We knew that honestly, we didn’t want to do this forever.”
All this news was very sudden and left a large impact on YouTube as a whole, with many wondering how the platform is going to move forward. There isn’t much to worry about, though, because MatPat explains that he isn’t disappearing from YouTube completely. He is still going to be there, he just won’t be the one speaking or making the theories- in other words, he won’t be the “face of the channel” anymore.
This is clarified in the video, where he talks about this being his own kind of evolution. He says that he started off as an “edgy older brother,” who overtime became “DadPat,” and finally will be like“GrandpaPat.” He goes on to say “just like a grandparent, you don’t get to see me all the time, and I don’t get to see you all the time, but at the end of the day, that grandpa loves to see you, and he cherishes the relationship that you’ve had so much.” He isn’t gone, his appearance will just be more rare.
As mentioned earlier, he is handing off the channels to someone else, or rather, to other people. The four channels will now be run by existing employees who have made previous appearances. The Game Theorists will be run by Tom, The Film Theorists will be run by Lee, The Food Theorists will be run by Santi, and The Style Theorists will be run by Amy.
As described by MatPat, they are all perfect for their new roles. Explained greatly when he states that Tom has a similar “level of insanity” to himself, proven by his denial of the moon’s existence. It will certainly be different now that MatPat is gone, but it seems that he has been training these new leaders in the “art of theorizing.”
The theories themselves aren’t going to be much different than when MatPat was there, but the commentary likely will be. MatPat also stated that he wanted to end the channel off on a high note, meaning when his channel was at its highest.
He has scheduled 5 more theories as of now on the main channel before the big going away celebration on March 9th. MatPat’s retirement was certainly shocking, but it seems he has the perfect group of people to replace him, and the channels will continue to run despite his absence.
He has plans for the future, such as a Lofi/Lore-fi series releasing soon, which he describes as a lo-fi YouTube channel with an ARG aspect to it. He also mentioned releasing and animated series titled “The Envie,” which he described as being similar to renowned series “Gravity Falls.”
But as always, remember friends, “That’s just a theory, A game theory! Thank you… thank you for watching.”
