Iconic YouTuber MatPat is stepping away from The Game Theorists

No kids, it’s not another Five Nights at Freddy’s theory. Today, The Game Theorist shared one of its most emotional videos to date as longtime host and creator MatPat announced his decision to step away.

Following March, fans shouldn’t expect to see MatPat feature on the channel as he takes a back seat, still working for The Game Theorists in some capacity, but no longer in the hosting role that has been so iconic. In a video shared on the channel, MatPat shared the motivation for him and his wife Steph to make this decision ultimately came down to spending more time with family.

“We knew that honestly, we didn’t want to do this forever,” MatPat explained in a video called Goodbye Internet uploaded to The Game Theorists on Jan. 9. “For 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 the fact that Steph and I have been work first for over a decade.”

MatPat explained that the expansion of The Game Theorists channel has overtaken his personal life to the extent that late dinnertime conversations largely revolved around work. With the pair having a child, spending time with them has become the priority, fueling the decision to step away from the channel which has been going strong for 13 years.

Bringing this run that lasted more than a decade to a close will be MatPat’s final video on The Game Theorists set to release on March 9. From that point, MatPat will only work for the channel behind the scenes. There is one exception, as MatPat says he will appear in a runway show on Style Theory in April.

For fans of The Game Theorists, there is good news, the channel is still going to continue with a new host taking MatPat’s position. Truly this shouldn’t be a major surprise given that in 2022 MatPat sold his string of successful theory channels to Lunar X, signaling that the YouTube icon was already stepping back.

MatPat might be the latest legacy YouTuber to move away from the platform to enjoy their personal life, but he won’t be the last.