MatPat says debate about creators quitting YouTube was “overdue”

YouTube star and Game Theory founder MatPat says the viral debate that sparked after announcing his retirement was long “overdue” in the content creation space.

MatPat shook up the internet after announcing his retirement from YouTube in January 2024 — 15 years after first starting his famous Game Theory channel back in 2009.

During his decade-and-a-half of the platform, he went on to found three other ‘theory’ channels; The Style Theorists, The Food Theorists, and The Film Theorists.

As you can imagine, managing these channels took up the bulk of his time, and he finally decided to step back from his role as the ‘face’ of the Theorists after many years of building up the brand to pursue other projects and focus on his family.

After breaking the news of his retirement, a viral conversation broke out online among other creators about the realities of dedicating one’s life to making content in a fast-paced market.

Jacksepticeye, in particular, sparked fears among fans after claiming MatPat’s video made him “realize that I’ve also been doing YouTube for a literal third of my life.”

MatPat’s retirement came on the heels of other major creators taking a step back from the platform, such as Tom Scott, whose own retirement announcement came as a massive shock to viewers who’d been watching his weekly uploads for ten years.

We got the chance to speak with MatPat about his thoughts on this conversation in an exclusive interview, where he told us the debate was “overdue.”

MatPat says YouTuber retirement debate was “overdue”

“I think it was kind of like a dam had burst, where from an insider perspective …you felt this coming for a while, but it was kind of a taboo subject that could never be addressed,” he told us.

“To be honest, creators are hopping on this platform and quitting all the time. It’s never been something that mainstream people have done at any given size. You have the occasional creator like Jenna Marbles hopping off, or Ray William Johnson back in the day, or PewDiePie kind of still producing videos. But someone outright saying, ‘I am officially stepping away and this is my final video and I’m going out on my own terms’ — that’s been few and far between.

“I think between my video and Tom Scott’s coming out as close as they did to each other, that dam finally burst, and people were finally able to speak about it and that taboo was broken in a lot of ways, which I think is great and healthy and wonderful for all of us to have open conversation.”

MatPat theorized that the reason his retirement sparked such a major discussion is the fact that YouTube is just now emerging out of its infancy, turning 20 years old in 2025. Now that a solid amount of creators have built their careers on the site for a decade or more, the concept of ‘retiring’ from the job is becoming more of a reality — a development that, in MatPat’s eyes, deserves recognition.

MatPat gives advice to YouTubers thinking of retirement

MatPat also gave his advice to other creators who are looking at stepping back from their jobs, offering his own situation as a blueprint for others to follow if they so choose. He suggested that influencers avoid rushing into big decisions and urged them to think of their fans feelings, reminding them of the impact they’ve had on their viewers’ lives.

“First off, make sure that you are sure about what you want to do,” he advised. “The decision that we made to step away was one that was years in the making. I knew that my time was coming. I wasn’t exactly sure when it was going to happen, but we were already taking steps internally here at Theorists to train up the next generation, find places where other people could step in and take over parts of the production process.

That way, as I stepped away, the audience would still get weekly videos. I think that it’s so important for any creator to remember that there are people whose lives are affected by your videos in some small way, or some big way. You have an impact on your viewers’ lives, and respecting that and valuing that and making sure that a decision to step away isn’t just a selfish decision for yourself, but also as one that you are handling with grace and respect to all those people who helped you get to that point is important.”

Ultimately, MatPat claimed that allowing oneself an “extended” process for stepping away gives audiences time to adjust and “mourn the loss” of their favorite creator as they pursue other avenues in life.

“Not rushing those decisions, making sure that you’ve taken the time necessary to check off all the things on your content creator bucket list,” were MatPat’s main takeaways. “If you have the ability, finding ways to kind of keep your brand or your legacy or your videos to continue moving forward to what degree they can, and then taking time to respect the relationship that your audience has with you.”

MatPat will be attending VidCon Anaheim as a Featured Creator this June. You can purchase tickets here.