Image: MatPat
Game Theory creator MatPat is officially retiring from YouTube.
Matthew Robert Patrick, better known as ‘MatPat’ has announced his retirement from YouTube. The content creator is best known for helming the Game Theorists channel and its flagship video series Game Theory, which has amassed a strong fanbase thanks to its Five Nights at Freddy’s-related content, among others.
MatPat announced his retirement in a video titled ‘Goodbye Internet’, confirming that his last day on the Game Theorists channel will be on March 9. After that, he will hand off his duties on the channel to, “someone else.”
MatPat is retiring from Game Theory
YouTube content creator MatPat co-created the Game Theorists channel with his wife Sephanie all the way back in 2011, with the very first Game Theory video revolving around quantum mechanics in the seminal RPG Chrono Trigger. MatPat then went on to launch spin-off channels for Game Theorists focusing on other lifestyle interests, such as Film Theorists, Food Theorists and Style Theorists. The Game Theorists channel currently has 18.4 million subscribers.
In his goodbye video, MatPat explained that he was leaving Game Theorists to spend time with his family after putting, “work first for over a decade.” He went on to say that “as much as I love you and I love overthinking things, and I love theorizing, I don’t love late nights. I miss the days when I could just sit down on the couch with [Stephanie] and play video games, and it’s not for content. Or I’m playing a game, and I’m not thinking about what theories are gonna come out of that. I miss it.”
It doesn’t sound like he’ll be slowing down until his actual departure from the channel on March 9, however. “For me, and my journey in this place, I always wanted to go out on a high note,” he said in the video. “And when you stop and look at the last year, this has been the best year in the Theorist lifespan, no joke.”
The remaining Theory channels, including Game Theorists, will be left in the hands of other members of MatPat’s team. He intends to remain involved with the channel in more of a managerial role and begin a “lo-fi mystery series,” called Lore-Fi that he’ll detail more in the future. Most of this work will be behind the scenes, which will be quite a change from his acting as the face of Game Theory for the past 12 years.
Needless to say, he won’t be doing any videos on the Five Nights at Freddy’s sequel once it comes out.