Matthew Patrick, also known as MatPat, is a popular YouTuber, mainly known for his channel Game Theorists where he talks about wild theories and crazy conspiracies about different video games and things on the internet. But all good things must come to an end. On Jan. 9, MatPat announced that he is quitting YouTube and social media. 

MatPat has been posting videos on YouTube for more than 13 years, having 18.9 million subscribers, and became such a huge YouTuber when there weren’t that many big creators at that time. Many of his fans, including myself, are surprised and sad to hear about this. One of his fans, freshman Alex Meletyan, expresses his feelings on the sudden announcement. 

“I was surprised because he was doing really [well] at the time,” Meletyan said. “Then he started talking about his reasons and then it made sense with his family and everything. Although it did feel really sad to lose probably one of the best creators on the platform.” 

MatPat has grown so much in his years he has been making content. He has been invited to many events and even his famous quote, “It’s just a theory, a game theory” has been heard on other popular channels, and even heard by people who don’t even know who he is.

He is especially known for and has made content for the horror game series Five Nights at Freddy’s, even making a cameo in the 2023 movie adaptation. 

When I first started watching Game Theorists, I never wanted to stop. MatPat is incredibly funny and makes me interested in games I never heard of before he played them. Everytime someone lists the greatest YouTubers of all time, I always hear MatPat’s name. 

But in his goodbye video, he reveals that he wanted to leave social media on a high note, wanting to leave while being at the top and not having to worry about his channel dying over time and eventually having to quit that way. 

The public was definitely not expecting the year to start off with a goodbye from MatPat, especially when he has been around since most of his fans were kids.

“[His fans] were all definitely very sad and they recognized that this is a very big creator that is important to a lot of people’s childhoods just like mine. Now it’s just going to disappear.” Meletyan said.

MatPat says in his goodbye video that it’s not only a sad transition for his fans, but for himself as well. “You’re not just numbers,” he said. “You’re not just ad impressions. You’re not just merch sales. What you have done for me and what I do for you, is special.” 

MatPat has been a huge part of my life, growing up and coming home from school to immediately turn on Game Theorists and learn about my favorite games. Watching his goodbye video made me tear up. It was saddening to see him upset in the video and genuinely crying for wanting to leave. 

Even though he has already posted his goodbye video, MatPat has confirmed that he won’t be leaving immediately and will post his last theory video on Mar. 9 this year. 

It’s sad to see him go but it’s also nice to know that he will be able to talk to his friends and family more and not have to worry about business and the next video ideas. For me MatPat has been a huge inspiration and his humor and fun personality brightens my day.

“Most people had SpongeBob, others had Peppa Pig and some people even had Dora. But [for] me it was MatPat.” Meletyan said.