Not a Game Theory: MatPat announces upcoming retirement from YouTube

Jan. 16 (ZFJ) — “It’s not clickbait,” MatPat begins, in a video uploaded on Tuesday, Jan. 9. The title: “Goodbye Internet.”

The video announces that MatPat’s last video on The Game Theorists, a channel centered around detangling the storylines of countless games, will be uploaded on March 9. Since its first theory, posted on April 18, 2011, Matthew “MatPat” Patrick has been the lead face of the channel, recounting theories around popular game franchises such as Five Nights at Freddy’s and Pokémon and ending each episode with his iconic, “But that’s just a theory—a Game Theory!”

Inspired by Tom Scott, who recently posted his own video detailing his indefinite hiatus from YouTube, MatPat explains that his reasons were “virtually the same,” referencing not only Scott but many other Youtubers who similarly announced breaks, series finales, or retirements over the past year.

“We knew that we couldn’t do this forever. We knew that, honestly we didn’t want to do this forever.”

MatPat admits that this is something he had reflected on during the past three years and prepared for with the developments in The Theorists’ company: an increase in staff members, a partnership with a larger company, and a greater focus on the future of the channel—the people MatPat will entrust the company’s four channels to.

MatPat references how his career in content creation has taken priority over his life, which had become “work first, for over a decade.” He reminisces about days spent enjoying life—and games—without constantly theorizing or planning for future content.

“I miss it.”

Considering the crossroads that come with his decision to leave The Game Theorists, MatPat states that “there is only really two ways to step away from a YouTube channel: you either just decide the day you stop uploading… or, you just keep uploading videos from now until the heat death of the universe, and you watch as your relevance slowly dies, or your passion slowly dies.” MatPat then goes on to recall the successes the Theory channels achieved in 2023, including new view count records and the creation of The Style Theorists, which led to a complete set of Theory Channels, all covering completely different topics.

MatPat’s iconic personality has made itself a trademark of the YouTube scene, found in the many references to his trademark line; MatPat points this out, saying, “That right there? That is incredible. [And] that’s the note I want to leave on.”

And that’s hard to say, because change is scary. Change is hard. But sometimes, the right decision isn’t the easy decision.

— MatPat

MatPat relates his goodbye to the ending of Earthbound, a role-play video game released in 1994: “You can revisit every single location that you’ve been to, you can talk to every NPC that you met on your journey… You see just how many lives have been impacted thanks to your journey.” Upon returning home, the start of the game, MatPat explains that the player has changed. “You don’t quite just fit anymore, because you just traveled the world… you are different, you grew up. And your relationship to this place grows up. It evolves.”

In the ten weeks leading up to MatPat’s retirement from the channel, MatPat explains that there will be a series of “MatPat’s Final Nine Theories” relating to staple games like Hello Neighbour, finding closure to theories, and counting down until MatPat’s last theory, which will be his farewell to more than a decade of content creation and theorizing.

MatPat’s departure from the Theorists’ channels does not mean the end of the company, as mentioned before; MatPat explains that anyone can be a theorist, just like the four friends and staff members who will take over the four Theory channels after March 9.

[The channel] isn’t Game Theory, it was always The Game Theorists, because this [is] a place where you can find a lot of like-minded creators, all with a passion for gaming and education.

— MatPat

MatPat references some collaborations and games The Game Theorists had highlighted, focusing on indie projects before asking, “If we’re doing that for all these other creators, why aren’t we doing it for the creators on our own staff?

With this thought in mind, MatPat introduces the four to-be hosts of the Game, Film, Food, and Style Theory channels: Tom Robinson, Lee Collins, Santiago Massa, and Amy Roberts respectively. He explains the divisions through observations of everyone’s hard work and successes, earning each person their place.

MatPat states that he will not be entirely gone from the YouTube scene, as he will spend more time in the background instead, brainstorming ideas: “For the last thirteen years, I’ve been commenting on other people’s IP [intellectual property], but now that I’m stepping out of those roles, I get to create the IP.” He teases a “Lore-fi” series, combining lo-fi, a subgenre of electronic music, with ARGs, or alternate-reality games that interact with the digital and real worlds. He also highlights Creators In Fashion, a fashion show he’s hosting coming April on The Style Theorists, featuring online influencers’ designs. Additionally mentioned is an animation show named Welcome to the Envie and his hope for a new, MatPat-original video game.

While MatPat will continue to make content online, his absence from the Theorists’ channels will still be prominent; already many Youtubers and fans alike have expressed both well-wishes and bittersweet goodbyes, thanking MatPat for his theories and for being the childhood of many.

References

• The Game Theorists - @GameTheory (YouTube) - Goodbye Internet - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8R1_TqU68yo