YouTube is a marvelous place, as far as the video game industry is concerned. It’s a quick, easy, and super accessible place to host video game trailers, gameplay samples, and review videos. YouTube is also utilized by Internet personalities to show themselves playing games.
“Let’s Plays” have become a massive success in recent years. The popularity of Let’s Plays have allowed literal unknowns to become virtual stars. At this point, even those that don’t know a single thing about video games are seeing the brightness of some of its stars. My grandma has never played a video game in her life, but she would recognize PewDiePie if you showed her a picture of him. What’s the problem then? Well, the dark sky of the internet has become so full of stars that the whole thing threatens to crash down or burn us with its brilliance.
There are many things working against would-be and already existing YouTube stars. Least of all the issues is the literal flooding of the market. There are so many YouTube personalities. So many, in fact, that they run the entire gamut of video game genres. If you want to watch someone be scared by a horror game, there’s a YouTuber who covers it. If you want to vicariously enjoy first person shooters, there’s another YouTuber for that. If you want to check out that new adventure game, there’s a YouTuber for that too. The problem is that there are so few niches left to fill, anyone trying to get into it will have a hell of a time gaining followers.
Not only that, but YouTube is constantly changing their monetization structure. People don’t like ads to begin with, but those views are what payYouTubers. You may make your audience angry by making them sit through an ad and risk losing them. But if you want to make any money, that’s the easiest option. Though, unless this is a perfect world where everyone watches the ads in your videos, you still won’t make much money unless you have millions of followers. This can be extremely difficult to achieve, and requires investing a ton of time. Throw in some flags from YouTube for some of your content, and it’ll all start to feel really hopeless.
Anyone interested in YouTube also has to be concerned with the big names that are already out there. Not as threats to your own follower count, but rather as ambassadors to the very companies you’d like to work with. Being a YouTuber isn’t always about making a ton of money. Sometimes, it’s just a hobby that people have that they benefit from via free products. YouTubers are often sent video games so that they can play them for their audiences. But if popular YouTubers like PewDiePie keep getting into trouble, then they risk ruining the party for everyone.
PewDiePie’s recent scandal over a very crude word used in one of his streams has incited the wrath of one indie developer. The creators of Firewatch, Campo Santo, put in a DMCA request to YouTube, and it has been accepted . Because of PewDiePie’s actions, he almost certainly will not be getting any future Campo Santo games to play. There’s also the possibility that Campo Santo will be very picky about who they send their game out to in the future. PewDiePie’s slip-up could potentially jeopardize any other gaming YouTuber who might want to play a game from them.
If you or a friend has an interest in becoming a YouTube celebrity, might I suggest you find a different hobby. Some existing YouTube stars are giving everyone a bad name. It’s really difficult to make any money via YouTube anymore, unless you have a huge amount of followers. And certainly not least is the fact that YouTube is practically choking on a never-ending flood of existing and wanna-be YouTube personalities. It’s super tough to push your star to the top, and there’s still the potential that the whole thing could come crashing down. The sky might be filled with stars for the moment, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they start dropping like flies.