As a person who’s grown up with UKposts, I can definitely see the shift that has happened. I remember being 11 years old watching videos like “Super Mario Frustration” on the platform. A type of video that wouldn’t fly today. Now I’m watching 20+ minute Game Theory videos and last night watched a 43 minute NileRed video. I’ve been telling people that TikTok is cringe because of the type of videos that get popular there, only to now realize you’re 100% right; TikTok is just young UKposts. Eventually TikTok will become the current day UKposts, which makes me wonder what UKposts will be in 15+ years.

"the end of an era" *sweating* "Im not leaving youtube anytime soom" *instant relief*

Markiplier: Everything has to end CrankGameplays: I'm sorry, things have changed Game Theory: The end of an era Me: Why do they keep scaring me like this?

matpat: im not leaving anytime soon! two years later: peace guys

"Not leaving UKposts anytime soon" Well, 2 years certainly wasn't too soon was it?

“End of an era” had my heart racing till he said he wasn’t leaving, but then I finished the video and realize more UKpostsrs will leave in the near future

Mat just calmly giving his entire fan base simultaneous heart attacks

Here I thought, convinced by the words "End of an Era," that Matpat was leaving UKposts and moving on to something bigger. What I ended up getting was not an announcement, but a very intriguing and interesting video focusing on the growth of UKposts, its commercial shift and its business side in relation to its competition. I really enjoyed listening to you today, Matpat! Thank you for another awesome and well-made video as always! Continue to thrive and keep growing! P.S. I would LOVE to see Matpat be the host of Jeopardy!

This really hits home with the current climate of UKposts ESPECIALLY after hearing your talk at Vidsummit. Also, your talk at Vidsummit was epic.

Mat putting "The end of an era" almost made everyone have a heart attack or almost experienced five stages of grief

Prisoner: “what’re you in for?” Matpat: “spoke about a fictional child murderer” Prisoner *slides away*

Actually, Newgrounds did share cash with its content creators, but since it did such back when it was going down and UKposts's star was rising, it went fully unnoticed. Nowadays Newgrounds has gone back to being an "underground" content network, but apparently it barely pays the bills.

I'd love to have a conversation with this man

Imagine if when matpat does his last episode he says "goodbye internet this has been the game theory" I would cry

That "you're not a casual viewer of youtube" call-out was too good, and too real

Every youtube theory video you post blows my mind. like.. reliably every time.

“I’m not leaving anytime soon.” *L I A R*

He really had me thinking he was gonna quit UKposts.

I feel like business theory is MatPat’s 4th “channel” though it’s not actually it’s own channel. It’s just theorys that come up in all his other channels; like this game theory, and we’ve seen a couple in film theory and food theory.

Phenomenal video, bud

I THOUGHT THE CHANNEL WAS ENDING AND FREAKED OUT

When Matt mentioned that everything on youtube is super long i got startled: The Game Theory used to be one of the channels with longer videos on youtube a few years ago, you had to make time for the videos; now the theory channels are possibly the shortest they've ever been and they're usually the first option for me. Congrats Matt, i remember you mentioning the extra effort to shorten the Videos to fit the watch time and cutting theories on half and honestly the effort paid off.

MatPat is one of the few UKpostsrs who's found a perfect way to adapt to the new UKposts without making too many drastic or "weird" changes to his content. Recent game theories feel like old game theories, just more modern.

Say what you want about MatPat, but Matthew Patrick is an incredibly smart person that is at the forefront of the internet content creation as a whole and that is not something to take lightly

I’m really afraid that YT is going to go even further towards this hyper-sanitized squeaky-clean library without the real spice of life.

“End of an Era” 😿 “I’m not quitting UKposts anytime soon” 👏Welp all I needed to see

Teacher: Explain the concept of Censorship without saying the word censorship Matpat:

TikTok just isn’t enriching like UKposts is, and it never will be. Short-form content by its very nature is mindless and expendable. The reason I’ve spent so long on UKposts is because of the genuine love I have for the creators on here. I could never feel that same way about someone by watching nothing but minute-long videos of them.

I grew up with UKposts, but I am more sad to see the business aspect now being the mainstream of it all. I do miss the old UKposts where people just did things because they taught it was fun. Let’s plays, funny animations and etc are starting to become a thing of the past.

"I'm not leaving UKposts anytime soon" They got us in the first half. not gonna lie

You forgot to mention the literal two-tier system YT implements that more seriously punishes independent content creators while letting content from major corporations, such as Disney and Viacom, slide without so much as a word.

As someone who has been watching youtube for about 10 years, I just can't move onto TikTok like many of my friends did, but I do understand the appeal.

i know he's joking about coming for susan's youtube ceo job, but honestly i would put my full support into the cause if he decides that it's no longer a joke

I wasn't sure what to expect with clicking on this video. "The End of an Era?" I was honestly thinking, "what the heck is this about?" But anyway, as someone who's only been making content for a little over a year now, this was more eye-opening than I was expecting it to be. Leave it to MatPat and his deep-diving into topics that get your brain a-thinking!

Everything makes so much sense. So well put together. Thanks, MatPat!

No wonder so many people reach out to you for consulting. You really shine a light on exactly the state of UKposts and the state of various platforms. Awesome video

"I never forgot any of you. Ever." "Well guess what Steve? We lost, and you weren't there."

9:34 I'd argue that Unus Annus by Mark and Ethan was a perfect example of constraints producing art. The whole point of the show was to be as vulgar and wild as possible because why not? There's a short limit on the channel's life so why not do whatever you want, no one can stop something that literally has nothing to lose and a pre-planned death. That was a brief moment of art. I wish we could see longer lasting channels like Unus Annus. Momento Mori, individualism and spicy content

Jeon jungkook most famous and papular in kpop and jungkook face of kpop❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

The problem is that every bit of "sanitizing" youtube does is the type where you kill a fly with a bazooka.

Nobody's talking about how Matt's wearing "That" red jacket YET AGAIN. It's so iconic at this point that you could just say two keywords "MatPat" and "Jacket" and people would know what you're talking about.

Maybe if MatPat really became the CEO of UKposts, he'd finally fix all of the issues that's currently prominent.

“‘We need not to be let alone. We need to be really bothered once in a while. How long is it since you were really bothered? About something important, about something real?'” “‘Cram them full of noncombustible data, chock them so damned full of ‘facts’ they feel stuffed, but absolutely ‘brilliant’ with information. Then they’ll feel they’re thinking, they’ll get a sense of motion without moving. And they’ll be happy, because facts of that sort don’t change. Don’t give them any slippery stuff like philosophy or sociology to tie things up with. That way lies melancholy.'” -Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

The internet has increasingly become self-aware, analyzing what they're watching, and sometimes causing good change, but often causing unnecessary conflict in the name of appealing to everyone, while at the same time everyone because politically charged and pinned against each other. Basically: Too many people are trying to control their influencers, and too many websites, _especially_ UKposts, are listening to them. Niches channels are becoming the only place where you can thrive if you don't appeal to everyone.

“Don’t worry, I’m not leaving UKposts yet” bro, you have no idea how scared I was with the title

It's amazing how Mat just screams so loudly for all of the generation's concerns regarding the changes and how they have come about. I've legit never come across another person whos evolved as smoothly as he has. From the early days of Chrono Trigger, we love you man.

Taehyung is indeed the Justin Timberlake of this era so funny to hear about him in a completely unrelated video btw good stuff

Kinda makes you anxious when you realize how much you're gonna have to consider when wanting to start uploading on youtube.

The old youtube slogan "broadcast yourself" always just stabs me through the heart Because... it use to be so reflective of how old youtube was, just some random people broadcasting themselves.

honestly, i love these deeper dives that MatPat does occasionally. you notice these changes in social media platforms and the content creators within them, but to see it formatted into a video makes you realise how big that change is. it's so weird to see.

watching this after the goodbye internet goes super hard

9:33 As I recall, this quote was about an artist deciding what they were going to do, as without drawing lines in the sand, the infinite possibilities prevent them from moving forwards with actually doing something. Cancel culture as it exists today is basically strangling art to death, slowly.

I was scared shitless, thought that this was the end of the channel

I can’t believe in the time I’ve been watching watching game theory we’ve reached the point where MatPat can confidently say he is the edgelord with absolute certainty

Well Matt, I have to say you really got me on this one. When I read “the end of an era”, the first thing that popped into my mind was that Game Theory was OVER, and I just can’t stress enough through a 3 am written comment how scared and worried I was. Great video, nevertheless, I loved your sincerity and your “openness” in discussing these topics. Thanks for the in-depth analysis and review about the UKposts and other video platforms creation sites. I have been thinking about starting to create content and making a YT channel, and I think this video gave me some food for thought and nudged me in the rightest of the directions. Hope to communicate more with you, I love your videos and even though I’m what could be described as a “wallflower”, just quietly watching without commenting or getting “too involved” , I’m currently making some “adjustments” in my life. And one of those is finally communicating and becoming actually active, instead of just silently watching from the sidelines and in silence. So TL;DR, I just wanna congratulate you and ofc Stephanie about this awesome channel and your awesome content, I love your way of explaining stuff and I think you have this awesome gift of connecting with your audience and communicating exactly what you mean. Thanks for everything and keep up the good work!!! Cheers from Guadalajara, Jalisco, México! If you ever come to visit, I’d love to meet you and show you guys around 😉 just for you to keep that in mind.

You can tell our culture is strangling itself based on how derivative so much of our media content is. A sequel, spinoff or remake is most of what is out there.

Love how this personally hit hard especially when MatPat was talking about the trends of the last few years and this year. I grew up with UKposts, I'm in my early 20s and not going to lie, I went through the whole mindset of being edgy watching Leafyishere, and then being PC watching Tea channels, and then being passive watching reaction-commentary videos, and then finally being an open minded adult watching DIY vids, documentaries, retrospective commentaries (like this video). UKposts will always be my preferred platform, and I'm not sure if it's because it caters more to our Generation and what phase we are currently in real life but I think it definitely is the most "inclusive" platform out there.

Honestly, I know that it was meant as a joke, but MatPat becoming the CEO of UKposts would probably be the best thing to happen to this platform in years.

I'm watching this video for a reference of MatPat for drawing "I'm not leaving UKposts anytime soon" Okay I knew doing this would hurt but yeah...

This is amazing, It's great to see how much Matt knows about the creator industry and to get a general image of the changing landscape.

We really need a new CEO for UKposts. Susan has ignored the amount of predators that have been outed, the fact that UKposts Kids exist, and the fact that UKposts was always a video sharing site not a huge corporation Edit: These comment bots I swear! Anyone else getting these?

Curse you Matpat. I tune in after a year and see this. Thought the channel was ending. Now I've got a playlist of all your streams from this year and I'm bingeing irrationally. You sick genius.

As someone who's just started college, I grew up with MatPat and Game Theory. I watched through the early days when Nerf Wars and Minecraft were huge on the platform (what a time on UKposts that was) and well on through my middle school and early high school years. I started to taper off his content after a while, though definitely not because of a dip in quality.. the videos are as good, if not better than ever! What made me smile though, as I came back to the channel and watched this video, was scrolling down to the comments and seeing so many other high-quality content creators leaving notes and messages on the video. It's like watching a Casey Neistat video when that generation of UKpostsrs followed his lead. Though I may be much younger than Matt and have a long way to go in this world, I couldn't be more proud of him and this community. Thanks for all the memories Matthew, I can't wait to see where you take this platform next.

This is the best UKposts Rewind I've ever seen! So glad they put you in charge of it this year.

"The end of an era" *sees the jacket* "Is that the era that is ending?"

"The end of an era" title gave every single Theorist a panic and heart attack at the same time plus I like it when Mat discusses topics that are important to him as a youtuber or youtube in general because it makes me know that Mat wants us (the viewers) to be informed. Also when Mat said " I'm not leaving youtube anytime soon" like everyone else sighed in relief. "They grow up so fast" UKposts in 2021 currently

matpat is leaving, game theory ends

0:33 Well that aged well

It's sad to see this platform most of us grew up with just become a shell of what it used to be, but still I completely agree with the points made and it was an insightful look at the bizzare state of modern youtube, so great job on this video matpat.

Imagine a world where MatPat says 'Hello Internet, welcome to Jeopardy!"

"The enemy of art is the absence of limitation" that couldn't be more wrong. You can have all the restrictions in the world and the art would become only blank paper. Art grows and only can true be expressed in limitless conditions. Where the artis can make whatever the artist desires.

1:07 Still waiting for that Blue’s Clues theory

It's amazing how long UKposts has stayed relevant. The analogy that the platform has become an adult feels so fittings. Longer videos typically mean longer discussions, at least for the reviewers and critics. I can't help but think back to the Lion King TikTok theory. It's the difference between a short "I had this idea" versus the longer "I had this idea and here's why." At least in that vein of content.

hey!! i know matpat himself won’t ever see this, but i just wanted to say thank you so much for being so kind to me when i asked for a photo with you. it made my entire week! i’m still in shock over it. i have generalized anxiety disorder, so i couldn’t properly say what i wanted to in the moment (also i was shocked!), but both you and steph inspired and continue to inspire me so much. you guys gave me a community, a place where i could be myself and relax. hope you guys are doing well!!! thank you for everything. :D

Matpat: “One and a half speed is how I have to watch everything on UKposts these days because go figure, everything on UKposts is so darn long! They’re all like, the length of movies!” Also Matpat: *releases several videos a week that are almost always 20+ minutes long each*

Absolutely loved watching this. Definitely the best use of 24 minutes 52 seconds (plus 15-20 seconds of ads) of my time

I usually only watch about 30 minutes of UKposts at a time, but I'm not scared off by long videos - I just break them up into multiple watch sessions.

If MatPat started a podcast just talking about social media and stuff, I would listen. This stuff is so interesting to me.

Well this video aged like fine wine.

This vid was 2 years ago... But now this title means something else

"The rules there don't feel as strict." Shadowbanning and temporary bans when you do so much as make a finger gun.

Why am I unusually hyped for an episode of “Dark lore of blues clues theory”

Mine too Jungkook is my favourite

This was a punch in the gut. Being on UKposts since childhood and then growing up with it feels kinda surreal. Great video, thanks for the insight. Really got me with that old Smosh video haha

You already know things are bad when Mat is sitting on a couch talking to the camera

The worst part of UKposts "growing up" is, along with the literal spamming of ads that I couldn't care less about, no matter how many times I skip them, it's seeing my favourite UKpostsrs strip away almost everything I liked about them growing up in order to stay afloat and earn the money they need to live.

This was super interesting, and nostalgic. Awesome. Been watching you since 2013

This is the most comprehensive and mature video about the current content creation trends, platforms, and environment I have ever seen. Really REALLY well done. I mean, good job. Seriously.

I kinda feel like the channels who don't care about getting demonetized tend to have better quality.

I feel super fortunate to have been old enough to remember and experience phase 1 of UKposts because boy is it different now. That panda sneezing video brings back memories

To think i've been watching for almost ten years. thanks for all the laughs over the years.

Dude bro this is why you're favourite. The analogy is so on point! When you broke it down by age group I remembered some of the old game reviews back in the and how the hosts would swear, yell, break stuff, or even smear feces over a games they thought were garbage, as a teenager would, and now you'd be hard-pressed to find a review that isn't a well thought out video essay complete with both good and bad points and just enough information for you to make your own decision, like a responsible adult. And I mean if the trend keeps up I think that grand-parent stage youtube is probably going to end up being one of the more caring eras, as more and more creators end up uploading videos of great advice, anecdotes, reflection, and probably even videos of just relying the message of 'I care'.

Gotta say the case with CoryXKenshin, an amazing UKpostsr who is practically the most pure and brand safe, never swearing or showing any suggestive content and yet YT gave them a strike on an old video from years back without giving a viable reason to why they did it or by giving a warning to fix it first

I really like how you’ve categorised the different generations of UKposts. Having grown up with the platform, its fascinating to see its changes documented like that.

0:35 well that aged poorly

Jeon Jung Kook #JungKook We love you so much Jung Kook , OUR GOLDEN ARTIST JEON JUNG KOOK 🐰💜🐰🥳

I'm glad to see Matt talking about the changes as the years have gone by because it seems like no one else does or will. He's open for the most part honest and transparent.

Its so different from when I was younger, I remember there was such diverse content out. I feel that everything I used to love about UKposts is now the fringes of the platform.

"Not leaving youtube anytime soon" 😢😢 0:35 Breaks every theorists heart rewatching this. Thanks for everything matpat

The more censored UKposts gets, the more I am tempted to leave. When one of the three, Tim Pool, Kevin Samuels, and of course you, Matt, ever get banned, I am stopping youtube permanently