YouTuber MatPat receives emotional farewell from fans after tearful retirement announcement: “Please don’t leave us”

Matthew Patrick Robert, aka MatPat, is an American gaming YouTuber who, along with his wife Stephanie, co-founded the Game Theorists channel in 2011. He is profoundly known for expertly breaking down Five Nights at Freddy’s lore.

MatPat’s highly synchronised and edited videos are still one of the most celebrated and long-running ideas that have gained millions of subscribers (40 million). The couple got their motivation from playing video games together, and by the end of the year 2023, they were raising over $5 million for St. Jude’s Hospital through charity live streams.

MatPat annouces retirement from YouTube

“This has been a literal third of my life. And I’m gonna miss you. I’m gonna miss this,” the 37-year-old Youtuber MatPat said in a recent video that he released on his channel titled “Goodbye Internet”.

In a recent turn of events, MatPat announced his retirement from YouTube, saying that he will host his last video on March 9, 2024. Then his three spin-offs—Film Theory, Food Theory, and Style Theory—will be handed to four members of his staff.

Shedding a tear, MatPat told viewers how much he would miss them:

“This has been a literal third of my life, and I am going to miss you. I am going to miss this. I value what we have here. I value this conversation, this openness that we have here. This relationship that we share. And I am sad that I won’t be able to see you every week.”

He went on to give the reason that the channel had taken a toll on his wife and him. “I miss the days where I could just sit down on the couch with [Stephanie] and play video games, and it’s not for content,” he explained. “Or I’m playing a game, and I’m not thinking about what theories are gonna come out of that. I miss it.”

YouTube community reacts to MatPat’s retirement

Although MatPat has explained that he plans to stay involved in content development on the backend of the business and even appear on the business’s other channels, his fans have taken this hit deeply.

Fans have reacted to his YouTube video on many social media platforms, including Twitter (X), saying, “Please delete the video and say it was a joke please please please please!!”

While another prominent YouTuber, Jack “Courage” went on to write, “What an incredible journey. Thank you for so many awesome memories. I hope to have the courage one day to take the same leap you are.”

The setback for fans has been hard but the silver lining in the dark clouds is that he will still be uploading some videos based on his announcement. Do you think MatPat went into retirement too early? Make sure to let us know in the comments.