The Game Theorists
August 29, 2009
Weekly (Usually Every Saturday)
Matthew Robert Patrick
Los Angeles, California, United States
The Game Theory $1,000,000 Challenge for St. Jude! ft. MrBeast, Markiplier, Dream, Pokimane, & more!
Can Gamers SURVIVE the Real Mirror's Edge? - Game Lab
Blood Brothers (Scene) Swearing on the Bible
Check out an entire wiki about The Game Theorists over at The Game Theorists Wiki. Find a dedicated community, comprehensive video summaries, and more![Source]
The Film Theorists
Film Theory Why Scar is the RIGHTFUL King! (Disney Lion King)
Film Theory How to KILL DEADPOOL!
Welcome to The Film Theorists!
[Source]The Food Theorists
Food Theory Tootsie Pops - How Many Licks Does It REALLY Take?
Food Theory Never Order McDonald's Medium Fries!
Welcome to Food Theory!
[Source]GTLive
September 14, 2015
2–4 times weekly
What Is The Yellow?
KIDS ARE SO MEAN! Kindergarten (Part 1)
GTLive FNAF Theorists SURPRISED BY SCOTT! (HIGHLIGHTS)
[Source]“But hey, that's just a theory, a game theory!”―Outro to Game Theory
Matthew Robert "MatPat" Patrick (born: November 15, 1986 (1986-11-15) [age 34]), better known online as The Game Theorists (or simply Game Theory), is an American YouTuber whose Game Theory channel's main focus is decoding the lore and analyzing the science behind popular video games, with Five Nights at Freddy's, Bendy and the Ink Machine, Minecraft, Mario and Super Smash Bros. being a few examples. The channel usually delves into deep and unspoken topics of video games, including the representation of culture behind video games and connecting one video game universe to another.
As the channel's name suggests, one of the main topics is looking into video game theories. The channel became popular extremely fast, as he was credited for his clever humor and analysis of video game-related topics, gathering the attention of other YouTubers.MatPat/Game Theory has collaborated with many YouTubers such as Smosh, Markiplier, TheJWittz, The Warp Zone, FBE, TheNationalDex and Dream.
The Film Theorists or Film Theory is a spin-off channel of The Game Theorists. It is similar to The Game Theorists in concept but focuses on television and film rather than video game content.
The Food Theorists or Food Theory is also a spin-off channel of The Game Theorists, it is similar to Game Theory in concept but focuses on food rather than video game content.
History
Matthew is from Mendina, Ohio. He created his YouTube channel on August 29, 2009, originally going by the name of MatthewPatrick13, and featured clips uploaded by Patrick of him auditioning for, and performing in, various theater shows; this is because, originally, Patrick had been a performer and aspiring director prior to becoming a YouTuber.
Matthew stopped uploading these clips sometime in mid-2009 and no new content was added to his channel for an extensive period of time. Uploads didn't restart on the channel until April 14th, 2010, when Patrick officially announced the series he was creating, called Game Theory.[1]
Just over a year later, another show was announced for The Game Theorists channel, known as Game Exchange. On July 2, 2012, a video was uploaded with voice-over by MatPat and Gaijin Goombah, the series' host, explaining that a new series known as Game Exchange was following a similar format to that of Game Theory, with the differences being a change in host, as well as the show focusing more on the History and Culture of things in gaming rather than the Science.
One month later on August 30, 2012, a third (and now former) show appeared on the Game Theorists channel known as Digressing and Sidequesting (abbreviated to DNSQ). Unlike the previous shows, Digressing & Sidequesting focuses on exploring aspects of Game Design and Mechanics; the show discusses various topics such as Hitpoints and Health Bars, as well as asymmetrical gaming in consoles such as the Wii U, and was hosted by the new (and now former) video editor for Game Theory, Ronnie "Oni" Edwards.
The following year, on December 28, 2013, the fourth running series on the Game Theorist Channel was unveiled. Known as Crossover, this series was hosted by Drake McWhorter and Kenny Landefield, and aimed to unite all of gaming's most iconic characters into one universe by looking at crossovers (where the shows name is derived from) of characters in different gaming universes and how they could act as links in between games. In the announcement video narrated by Drake, they link Mario to Gears of War as an example of how the show does.
In 2017, Austin from Shoddycast along with his series The Science, moved to the "The Game Theorists", making him the fifth host of Game Theory. His first The Science video uploaded on The Game Theorists channel was The Science of Pokemon would KILL YOU.
Content
Matthew has many different regular segments by their four hosts. MatPat is the host of the titular segment, Game Theory which delves deep into theories of video games, as well as many different theories that MatPat thinks of, such as the YouTube algorithm, and popular trends.
The second host, Gaijin Goomba, runs two different segments. The regular segment he hosts, Game Exchange, explores the hidden cultural influence behind a single game. Gaijin usually focuses on one game per episode, sometimes even one big section of culture shown through a game. The second, and less frequent, is a segment he hosts called Culture Shock. Short 3-5 minute videos that showcase one small bit of culture in a video game that Gaijin Goomba finds interesting but is too small to put into a full episode of Game Exchange.
The third is Crossover, where Drake shows the connections between two very different video game franchises, such as Mario and Gears of War, and how every video game universe could exist in the same universe. He also hosts a segment called Smash History, which takes a look at a character's move set in SSB and sees which games from the character's franchise they originate from.
The fourth host, Austin, hosts The Science, a show he used to host on ShoddyCast. Similarly to MatPat, his theories are based on Science of Videogames and how they would work in the real world.
The fifth host and former video editor, Ronnie, hosted the segment DNSQ (Digressing and Sidequesting). In DNSQ, Ronnie talked about the different and various aspects of different video games and how they affect different video games, as well as how they affect the mainstream line of things.
Segments
Game TheoryGame ExchangeCulture Shock (2014-2017)Crossover (2013-2014)DNSQ (Digressing and Sidequesting) (2011-2016)Smash History (2014-2016)DeadlockReality CheckA Brief History (1986-2017)The ScienceGame Lab (YouTube Red)While not a segment of the show, at the end of each episode of Game Theory, MatPat used to hold a Super Amazing Endcard Tournament where watchers vote for a topic which usually has to do with another video in the future or a completely random topic.
Other/Alternate channels
Matthew also owns three other channels, the Film Theorists, The Food Theorists and GTLive.
As part of an original series on YouTube Red, Matthew and other gamers participate in events where they attempt the things done in video games such as defusing "bombs", doing parkour and using stealth to avoid detection. Every episode of Game Lab also has a separate, short 360 video where the viewer can "experience" the same thing done in the actual episode. These videos, unlike the actual Game Lab videos, are fully free to watch.
Characters
MadPat is the evil alter ego of Matthew who rarely appears in videos.
FatPat is a fat version of Matthew. He is often used as a joke.
Also is used as a joke like FatPat and is a Weeb version of Matthew.
MattyPatty is the name MatPat uses when he plays dating sims.
Outside of The Game Theorists
Outside of The Game Theorists, each of the main hosts (with the exception of MatPat) of the shows all own their own personal channels.
Death of Ronnie Edwards
On July 25, 2018, it was confirmed by Matthew in a video that one of the channel's main hosts and editors, Ronnie "Oni" Edwards, was found dead on July 4, 2018 after committing suicide. The reason behind Ronnie's death is still unknown, but MatPat explained that Ronnie had been struggling with some mental illnesses and long term family issues which may have contributed to his suicide.
The 1.7 Million Scam
On January 24th, 2019, Matthew released a video named: They stole 1.7 Million, in which he explained that Defy Media, and MCN, who owed creators 1.7 million dollars, had been shut down, and the people who handled their money, Ally bank, had not given them their money. Many YouTubers, including PewDiePie, had spread awareness about the situation. In the follow-up video, the 1.7 Million Lie, published on Valentine’s Day of 2019, said that Ally still refused to pay back the 1.7 Million.
Collaborations
The Game Theorists sometimes collaborates with other YouTubers, for example, Matthew appeared in Screen Junkies Honest Trailer for Warcraft.
Film Theory
Film Theory, like Game Theory, is a show which over-analyzes a certain part of pop culture, namely for this show Films and Television. There are currently over 180 episodes of Film Theory which have been released on things like:
Can the Doctor Exist? (Consists of three parts)Who is Jon Snow's mother?How to win an Oscar (Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Actress) (Consists of two parts, with one being how to make an award-winning film)The Film Theorists will post film theories on a weekly basis from now on with videos pertaining to recent film media.
Did You Know Movies is a show on The Film Theorists created in league with Did You Know Gaming and Did You Know Anime. The show is presented in a typical Did You Know Gaming format with random trivia being thrown at about a certain film or film-related topic that is the main focus of the episode. The first episode of the series debued on June 2, 2015 with an episode on the Quentin Tarantino film Reservoir Dogs. Did You Know Movies is no longer being uploaded on the channel.
Frame by Frame was a show on the channel that explains how the complex visual language on the movies are: "That if used correctly it can inspire a seemingly unimaginable depth of feeling, or sleep depending on what you're watching." (Kyle). On the first video , Kyle explains how framing worked to and how it was first created. Other Frame by Frame Videos involve:
Frame by Frame is no longer active.
Food Theory
Food Theory is a show which analyzes food products and myths. There are currently around 30 episodes of Food Theory which have been released.
GTLive
GTLive is a gaming channel run by MatPat. The GTLive channel was created as a place for viewers to watch the live streams streamed by Patrick and his wife Stephanie, in case they were previously unable to view them.
The content is MatPat livestreaming him playing games like a gaming channel. He has done livestreams on FNAF, Hello Neighbor, Bendy and the ink machine, Super Mario Maker and others.
Trivia
According to his own statement, MatPat has an IQ of 140 and is therefore highly intelligent.Matthew has his own character in the game "The Walking Dead: Road to Survival".Matthew calculated the amount of Mario Maker levels "makable" and "fun" which he named the MarioPlex and equals to 10^12431. (August 6, 2017)On March 12, 2018, Matthew announced on all of his social media pages that he and his wife, Steph, would be having a baby. The baby, which was revealed to be named Oliver or "Ollie" for short, was born on July 5th, 2018.Matthew hit 10 million subscribers on April 18, 2018, exactly seven years after he uploaded his first episode of Game Theory.This was the first in a series of channels, the other 2 being Film Theory (2014) and Food Theory (2020).As all of the channels color themes are Simon colors in order it is thought that the next channel's icon is going to be mainly blue.The channel received 5 million, 11 million, and 12 million subscribers on the same day in 2015, 2018, and 2019.Matthew was born in Cleveland, Ohio.Subscriber milestones
Note: The following dates are according to Social Blade. Dates may vary by one or two days due to differences in time zones.
1 million subscribers: December 18, 20132 million subscribers: April 24, 20143 million subscribers: October 19, 2014.4 million subscribers: March 3, 2015.5 million subscribers: August 20, 2015.6 million subscribers: March 18, 2016.7 million subscribers: October 9, 2016.8 million subscribers: April 12, 2017.9 million subscribers: November 18, 2017.10 million subscribers: April 18, 2018. 11 million subscribers: August 20, 2018.12 million subscribers: August 20, 2019.13 million subscribers: August 18, 2020.14 million subscribers: April 7, 2021.100,000 subscribers: July 23, 2020200,000 subscribers: July 23, 2020300,000 subscribers: July 23, 2020400,000 subscribers: July 24, 2020500,000 subscribers: July 24, 20201 million subscribers: July 30, 20202 million subscribers: December 1, 20201 million subscribers: January 16, 20172 million subscribers: April 25, 2019Video view milestones
Note: The following dates are according to Social Blade. Dates may vary by one or two days due to differences in time zones.
1 billion views: January 14, 20172 billion views: April 21, 20191 billion views: April 5, 20191 million views: July 23, 2020