Has PewDiePie retired? Exploring the recent years of the former most-subscribed content creator's career

Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg, more popularly known as PewDiePie, was the undisputed king of YouTube for many years until Jimmy "MrBeast" Donaldson crossed his 111 million subscriber mark earlier this month, becoming the most followed channel on the platform. With his channel growth creeping to a halt and no daily uploads like the good old days, some might be tempted to ask if Kjellberg is on his way out.

Felix's enormous influence on the gaming and content creation space has implications far outside YouTube. The Swedish giant was, after all, the first person to cross the 100 million subscriber mark years ago and the entire internet remembers his legendary subscriber battle with T-Series.

However, PewDiePie's content has drastically changed over the last year with uploads becoming far more spaced out with a large number of IRL vlogs from Japan and his move to the far-eastern country rather than his old reaction-type videos or game streams.

With his channel growth practically grinding to a halt in recent years, many fans might wonder what's next for the former king of YouTube. Well, as it turns out, he has already addressed concerns about retirement from content creation. Let's look at what the Bro army can expect from Kjellberg going forward.

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"Two years ago I decided that I was gonna quit": PewDiePie's thoughts about retirement, future content strategy, and why he chose not to quit YouTube

In a QnA session from September, the YouTuber had to answer a very important question from a fan:

"Why your channel is not growing faster?"

His response clarifies a lot about his current content creation strategy. While bluntly accepting the fact that he is not uploading videos at the rate he used to, he also provided an explanation:

"Yeah, I'm not uploading as much. I was thinking even if I should make a new channel or something. Cus people come to my channel and they're like, 'Why doesn't he not have more?'"

His next words are critical in understanding the core shift of his YouTube philosophy:

"But again, it's not that important, doesn't matter. I don't feel like I need to prove myself to anyone at this point."

He started his career on the platform back in 2010. Since then, he has come a long way from his initial Let's Play videos and funny commentary over video games. Slowly diversifying into popular meme review and reaction content, PewDiePie gradually reached the very top of the YouTube food chain and held on to the title of most-subscribed-to channel owned by an individual since 2013.

PewDiePie stats over the years (Image via Social Blade)

Views on his channel, however, took a dip when he stopped his regular video production in late 2020. By May 2021, he had finally reached the 110 million subscriber mark but failed to grow substantially in the coming year, having gained only a million. The tapering of the graph towards the end is indicative of this stagnation.

PewDiePie's stalled growth is even more apparent when compared to the rapidly growing channel of MrBeast, who beat the Swede for the top spot a few weeks ago.

PewDiePie vs MrBeast growth comparison (Image via Social Blade)

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"Felt like I was just growing the channel just because you are expected to do so" - PewDiePie's new mantra for YouTube stemmed from this idea

His new content philosophy is best described in a video aptly titled Why I didn't quit, where the YouTuber mentioned why he felt like retiring from the industry back in 2020. Citing numerous controversies, he stated that he was overwhelmed by the negativity.

"Two years ago when I decided that I was gonna quit. It was because I had gone through too much drama at the time. You know, it hasn't always been perfect."

Fortunately for his fans, he did decide to stay put because of his love for the channel and the community:

"But it didn't feel right to quite when other people, especially when so many people were still being so supportive."

Critically, PewDiePie proceeded to explain that growing the channel and chasing after views had sucked the fun out of YouTube, and thus, he needed to change his viewpoint. Stating that he had "peaked," he explained:

"I realized at that time that, you know, to keep trying to push the channel more and more and more all the time wasn't doing anything for me personally. I wasn't getting anything out of the money, the recognition or the fame. At least that part had peaked, you know?"

What he says next perhaps sums up his feelings about the project perfectly:

"Felt like I was just growing the channel just because you are expected to do so."

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"For the future": His plans for the future

Fans can rest assured that PewDiePie is not going anywhere, having promised to keep uploading to his channel, just not in the fashion he did in the past. Indicating that he will be uploading videos that he likes doing, rather than reacting to memes and playing games for "content", he stated:

"For the future, I just want to keep doing videos the way I have been doing. In sort of this tempo. At least my first year in Japan I really just wanna enjoy having fun here and making the most out of it. Not stressing about what the next upload is gonna be all the time."

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PewDiePie's content has changed a lot over time and the last few years have seen him reach the pinnacle of YouTube. Although his videos aren't released daily, fans can expect him to upload content at his own pace. It may not be ideal for long-time fans used to regular content, but it’s a welcome change for most nonetheless.