Fans of the gaming-based content creator community can breathe a sigh of relief, for now, at least. Despite rumors that have been swirling for months, popularYouTubestar Jacksepticeye has announced that he will not be retiring from the platform … at least, not for another couple of years, probably.
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Following In MatPat’s Footsteps?
Controversy about the popular Ireland-based online personality (real name Seán William McLoughlin) started popping up a few months back, following the announced retirement of fellowpopular gaming YouTuber MatPat. MatPat’s retirement from onscreen life didn’t take effect until March 9 of this year, but amid the hubbub, Jacksepticeye made a tweet on January 10 that had a lot of his fans concerned about his future plans as well, stating, “MatPat’s video made me realise that I’ve also been doing youtube for a literal third of my life…”
Although the intent of that message may have been slightly more benign than his fan community as a whole interpreted it, it didn’t stop them from flooding Reddit with their lamentations. “I poked the nest purposefully,” he said in his latest video, as though he were putting feelers out for what his' fans' reaction would be if he decided to hang up the mic for good. He also admitted that MatPat’s retirement announcement at the beginning of 2024 made him consider whether he wanted to continue with his onscreen career, and he was already considering leaving it behind.
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Can’t Keep This Up Forever, Though
Those who have been keeping a close eye on Jackspeticeye’s career may not be surprised to learn that his eventual retirement is in the cards. He’s spoken before about the pressures of online stardomand parasocial relationships, such as statements he made leading up to the release of his 2022biographical documentary, titled How Did We Get Here?, in which he expressed fascination with the ever-turning wheel of what will be successful on YouTube along with the constant pressure of keeping up with the always-changing algorithm. “It feels like the stuff that I used to do stopped working,” he noted on Friday.
His most recent video — the one in which he dispels the retirement rumors — carry a similar note, although he also talks about other problems of online fame as well. Trying to adapt to the algorithm, he said he begrudgingly started making more reaction videos, but he didn’t really know what he was doing, and “some stuff did do well, but it felt really cookie cutter and not what I wanted to do, so I got burnt out on it.”
“… it felt really cookie cutter and not what I wanted to do, so I got burnt out on it.”" - Jacksepticeye
While he’s been active in protecting his mental health, Jacksepticeye describes himself as “horrifically depressed,” though he has no stigma about talking about his medication and therapy. In addition to the normal pressures, he talked about the “Jacksepticeye’s dad is burning in hell” meme series that surfaced after his father’s passing, and while he accepts that his career makes him open to criticism, that seemed a step way over the line, but he knew he had to ignore the memes, because acknowledging them would only make them multiply.
Still, he’s grateful for the “privilege and the position” to make a career out of content creation, but he seems more interested in his other projects, like making comics and supporting his coffee brand, Top of the Mornin'. He says he’s probably got at least two years, at most, of continuing on with his normal game-based method of content creation, but like MatPat, he still plans to work on other projects once he leaves his current model behind. “My mind’s a mess and I don’t really know how to deal with it most of the time, but hopefully, some of you out there can relate to it, and maybe other YouTubers can relate to it as well.”
You can view the entire announcement video below:
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