YouTuber MatPat Announces Retirement

Gaming YouTuber MatPat announced on Tuesday afternoon that he would be officially retiring from his YouTube channel, marking an official end to over 12 years of being an online gaming and fandom authority.

In a tearful video titled “Goodbye Internet,” MatPat — legal name Matthew Patrick — announced that March 9, 2024, would be his last day hosting “Game Theorists,” a popular YouTube franchise devoted to video game lore and discussion.

After first starting YouTube in 2011, Patrick created Game Theorists with his wife Stephanie as a one-stop-shop to discuss the wildest internet theories behind popular video games. Since its first video launched, the brand has grown into a YouTube empire, with spinoffs, 17.7 million subscribers on the main channel alone, and hundreds of millions of views every month. 

In 2023, MatPat hosted the Streamy Awards, an award show dedicated to online achievements. (The Streamys are produced by Dick Clark Productions, which is owned by Rolling Stone’s parent company PMC.) Prior to the live show, where he was praised for his hosting ability, Patrick told Rolling Stone he was excited to celebrate the long legacy the creator economy has built.

Patrick said Tuesday that it has been “an honor” to work on the channel and said both he and fans have gone through an evolution together — going from elder brother, to YouTube dad, and now YouTube “grandfather,” off to live in a cozy retirement home in Florida.

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But devastated fans won’t have to mourn just yet. There are nine more episodes of Game Theorists left — which Patrick said will still be filled to the brim with expansive discussion on everything gaming.

“One of the things that is cool to call out at this point, having such a long history on the platform, is [that] we’ve crossed into this idea of being able to span multiple generations of online viewers,” he previously told Rolling Stone. “One of the goals for us has always been to allow for the next generation of creators to rise up and take hold of our platform, and do cool new interesting things with it.”