After 13 fun years of gaming, gaming theories, and content creation, YouTube and internet staple MatPat or Mathew Patrick of The Game Theorist has finally handed in his resignation, saying goodbye to the internet and the channel’s fans in a heartfelt video.
Matthew Patrick uploaded a 25-minute-long video on January 10th, 2024, titled “Goodbye Internet.” It serves as a tearful farewell and a ‘thank you’ to fans as he breaks down his thoughts and reasons for his retirement.
MatPat is known for various viral fan theories and lore on video games, films, and other forms of media.
One of the reasons stated for his retirement was the schedule that he and his wife and COO, Stephanie Patrick, had to keep up with creating content and managing their various channels: The Game Theorist, The Food Theorist, The Film Theorist, The Style Theorist, and GTLive. In the video, he admitted that he didn’t want to keep it up forever as it has taken a toll on him over the years and that he felt that he missed out on time with his family and friends due to the grueling schedule to the point that on breaks he’d talk to friends about the business logistics.
“As much as I love you and I love overthinking things, and I love theorizing, I don’t love late nights. I don’t love that Steph and I have been work first for over a decade… I miss the days where I could just sit down on the couch with her and play video games and it’s not for content.” he stated. The channels will still be uploading episodes he recorded for the next weeks but will slowly back away from the camera and only pop in on occasions after March 9, 2024.
According to MatPat, they have been slowly starting this transition on their channels into the newer system for the past 2 to 3 years, and have been training and hiring staff, researchers, and writers to handle the workload and management evenly. They are also aiming to expand their channels as a business with the platform, as in 2022 they sold The Game Theorist to a U.K.-based startup called LunarX, with an agreement to avoid truly stamping out their creative process.
He also mentioned the feeling of having huge changes in his life and the platform itself for the past decade, such as his journey through parenthood. He worries about how to stop working on videos as he sees there are 2 main ways to step away from content creation: either you decide to step away from uploading or lose passion for work and become irrelevant as a creator, an unfortunate possibility for content creators, so he intends to leave in a high note for his retirement.
MatPat has also revealed that he will be passing along his presenter position to 4 other individuals to take over each of the main theory channels and he and Stephanie will remain in content development for the channels but will allow the new presenters and writers to take the lead on episodes moving forward.
He also emphasized how other Youtubers with tenure in the site and content creation have also uploaded their resignations in the past couple of months and how it affected his decision to retire as well, his main examples being other prominent gaming staples as Stampylonghead, CaptainSparkles, Musician Seth Everman, and Tom Scott, who just released their resignation to regular uploads a little over a week before MatPat’s.
Because of the Patricks’ and the channels’ decade-long presence on the platform, many fans have reacted in surprise, as they many did not expect the first month of 2024 to have this, but have stated thanks to MatPat and the Channels their gratitude and being a part of their lives and childhood, including some of the top creators of the platform today:
this is how opening up twitter to the news matpat is quitting youtube felt pic.twitter.com/ahPkPJBkGL
— reese (@m1stghoul) January 9, 2024
I think Scott Cawthon should just tell Matpat the timeline for FNAF, bro deserves it as a gift for his retirement 💀
Matpat tells absolutely no one, he just keeps it to himself, but he should know how close he was to the truth pic.twitter.com/pJa6BstWXz
— Luca 'Pog' Tony ✨ (@LucaTony0708) January 9, 2024
It's been an honor 🫡
— YouTube Gaming (@YouTubeGaming) January 9, 2024
Much love MatPat. You are an absolute fucking king
— TommyInnit (@tommyinnit) January 9, 2024
See ya later gamer man pic.twitter.com/03w1PFSf6Y
— Hero DarkyDark- Storm Rail Riderz #1 in Pre-Launch (@HeroDarkyDark) January 9, 2024
NO REALLY BECAUSE MATPAT WHAT DO YOU MEAN. GTLIVE IS MY COMFORT SHOW I CANT DEAL. MATPAT PLEASE MATPAT. https://t.co/Dl3a3n6mRm pic.twitter.com/HmhdrWYiTE
— Yusei needs a nap (@superion_57) January 9, 2024
The whole cinema when MatPat says "but that's just a theory" for the last time in his last theory video pic.twitter.com/LRNfpXsasR
— Abstract 🆖️ (@AbstractPurple) January 9, 2024
https://twitterx.com/juke_box8/status/1744837176184168608?s=20
MatPat has done so much for youtube and youtubers over the years! Hard to believe he won't be around like always anymore. Thanks for everything Mat! Can't wait to see what you do next ❤️
— Jacksepticeye (@Jacksepticeye) January 10, 2024
Goodbye Matpat. Thank you for giving me a cool childhood. I’m about to start a new chapter in my life, college and adulthood. Thank you for everything.
I will continue to say,
“It’s just a theory, a GAME THEORY!” pic.twitter.com/gZYpWJJ8ZT— MonkeCheeser21 (@NatalyBlues21) January 9, 2024
The Patricks have also become some of YouTube’s most recognizable and interesting creative forces off the platform and have become a staple reference to many content creators on the platform itself. They’ve also made a mark for their various charities hosted throughout the decade.
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