YouTubers Who Sold Their Channel

This video is for documentary, educational, and artistic purposes.

[tylermascola]

Game Theory editor here - I'll definitely say when Matt gave me the news about the buy-out, I was VERY skeptical. There's just too many horror stories out there. But so far, everything's been great. We're hiring on more people, which is making everyone's lives easier. And I met a chunk of the LunarX team in person. They were nice people :)

[debdub]

I'm so glad that Smosh brought their Channel back and they're making their old skits

[jackjaws]

You left out a pretty big part of the Fred one, the “New Fred” series was intentionally made bad as a joke. It was a storyline to end the Fred series in a funny way. Basically a fictional Korean cereal company captured Fred and replace him, then Lucas (his creator) rescues him and defeats the company and Fred walks off into the sunset. It was a pretty self-aware send-off.

[kadoharp]

I literally had no idea that the game theorists sold their company, until this video. I think they'll be fine

[legokiller]

And 11 days later, SMOSH bought their channel back.

[laundrybucket]

Been watching you for years and I’ve noticed you lose weight and get muscle so proud of you bro

[Unfortunately_Mickey]

No one can ever accuse Lucas Cruikshank of not getting a bag. The original YouTuber.

[MarvelSonicFan]

I completly forgot Fred and tbh, Smosh wasn't the same after Anthony left

[MudkipOnYT]

Being honest though, of all of them, Lucas basically gave his channel away for a fat bag, ran off, made another one and let the old one die.

For what it’s worth, he made a good decision, probably the only good decision someone made in this video.

[CyclonesWorld]

Waiting for the reveal that this whole time TheGamerForMars has been owned by the NRA cause those guns he calls arms are fucking impressive

[Odelayderado]

Still crazy how much successes Fred had remember watching his videos in 2007 wow how bizarre it must had been for people to see an Asian Fred lol

[arthurdurham]

This would be a really interesting and meta way for him to announce he sold this channel

[HeisenbergFam]

1:13 honestly I respect Matt's decision, letting others do boring tedious stuff while you can focus on content sounds better

[stormhought]

MatPat's channels have been a step decline in quality of the theories since he began hire people to write them for him (most of them couldn't even be classified as theories in my opinion). I hope this works out for him, and makes his channels better.

[SlyFrye]

Oh yeah that's right. I forgot that Matt Pat brought that up last year. Anyways now I'm starting to wonder how many other channels have been sold that we all just don't know about since all but the theorists seem to have been sold discreetly to companies and people just don't know about it

[ProfessorAlfredo]

I’m willing to pay $500 for Annoying Orange

[maxsmusings]

All these channels were my childhood. It’s insane to see all of them gone (except Smosh, but that’s basically dead)

[NatjoOfficial]

6:33
Not... entirely accurate.
The korean fred was part of this fred ARG directed by Lucas, it was sort of a last Hoorah for the Fred character where Lucas effectively said goodbye to the character.
After the ARG however, Lucas let go of the channel entirely, allowing that company to take full control of it and then run it into the ground.

[tacoflash]

Note to self never ever Sell your Channel

[jaclynjax]

I love how you stuck just to the facts. You didn't include their personal drama and for some, their "cancelation". This was very well made and I appreciate how you've separated the topic of business and the creators personal lives. It's refreshing!
I think it was the correct choice for Game Theory and I completely agree with him.
As an old lady, I have worked for people/businesses and I also owned a very successful clothing store, (that I was forced to close due to serious health issues of mine). Being an owner or being self-employed sounds great in theory and on paper BUT it isn't for everyone. It isn't for MOST people. No one should EVER feel bad or down about going back to working for someone.
You can be the most proficient in a field but when you add in the OTHER side of business, like HR, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, (bills in general), benefits package, (unfortunately I'm American so that's HUGE), overtime, "LLC or S corporation classification?", overhead, and things like a 401K, stability in general. Those aren't things to scoff at. I'm genuinely concerned about the future of YouTubers and Twitch streamers and things like that. Not the rich and algorithmically popular ones. I'm concerned for the ones who are scraping by.
That aspect of working for yourself isn't for everyone. Especially in unstable and financially hard times. Entertainment is not a viable career choice for 99% of people. It isn't an essential job either. In peacetime this is fine but when shit hits the fan they will be far, far behind others in the world with a lot of things, as will most of us. That's not to scare anyone off. I'm just telling it like it is. I hope that doesn't come off harsh! 😕
You aren't indispensable indispensable
You never know if you are fully cut out for every aspect of being a business owner, self-employed, freelancer, etc., until you are in very deep. It is scary!
I found out that part of it wasn't for me in the least bit and I am extremely lucky because I was then able to partnered up with mother, who's an accountant and actually enjoys that crap, lol. Those types of things I don't/can't deal with. It's like pulling teeth for me to just get me to look over an invoice let alone taxes, haha.