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With nearly 2 million subscribers on YouTube, Kelly "The Act Man" Van Achte is relied upon by many for reviews of some of the most popular video game titles. Recently, in a video titled Making Things Right, he went on record and claimed that moving forward, he would not do "fully dedicated sponsorships" anymore, to stay true to his fanbase.
In the video, The Act Man stated that his unbiased critiques of video games make him stand out as a content creator. On December 28, 2024, he released a sponsored review on the TiMi Group Studios title, Delta Force. This video received significant backlash and 10 days later, the YouTuber addressed it, vowing to move away from sharing such takes on video games:
"Most people subscribe, I assume because of my opinions, my critiques, and a type of critical analysis. I built my channel up in a certain way with a certain type of content, so if I don't deliver fans are naturally upset. The recent video on Delta Force I did had some significant push-back, and it's got me to the point where I don't want to do fully dedicated sponsorships anymore." (Timestamp - 3:27)
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The Act Man donates $40,000 to charity after making a sponsored video game review on Delta Force
To show his commitment to his new cause, Kelly decided to donate part of the revenue he received from his Delta Force review to Gamers Outreach, a charity that empowers hospitalized children through video games, aiming to restore joy and normalcy during treatment:
"I don't know exactly how I can make things right with you, my audience, but I think a good place to start will be to donate the money I'm making from the Delta Force video because of the sponsorship. I'll be donating $40,000 to The Gamers Outreach charity as a way of giving back." (Timestamp - 5:41)
He also clarified that even without the sponsorship, Delta Force was entertaining and a good "temporary replacement for Battlefield."
Nevertheless, The Act Man will not deny sponsorship offers, provided they mean something to him. He explained this by using an example of the upcoming, highly-anticipated, DOOM: The Dark Ages title by id Software:
"For the foreseeable future, I'm not going to be doing fully dedicated videos. If I ever do it's going to have to be for the right game, like if Bethesda or Microsoft were like 'Hey, we'll pay you to make a video on Doom: the Dark Ages, and you'll get to play the game early', I'll be like: I'll take that deal." (Timestamp - 5:21)
Overall, The Act Man expressed that a fully dedicated sponsored video makes it difficult to be an independent, critical video game review channel. Moreover, he claimed that such videos can take the sheen away from his critiques and make him sound disingenuous:
"The problem with fully dedicated sponsorships is it calls my credibility into question, even if what I'm saying, I genuinely believe." (Timestamp - 11:43)
As an added measure, the YouTuber will conduct a giveaway for his community, specifically members of his Discord server and subreddit, with the remaining Delta Force sponsorship amount of $8,000.
In other news, YouTuber AndyPants Gaming attempted to intimidate The Act Man amid their ongoing feud.
