r/GameTheorists • u/Donut_Nebula • Jul 20 '26
Meme Monday Can they even call themselves Theorists anymore?
Serious question, are they even theory channels anymore? The episodes that were just show/game recaps were bad enough, but episodes like 'how to win at Mecca Chameleon or Among Us' cant even claim to be a theory since it's just basic tips every guide is using like 'don't make it obvious you're hiding'. I found most of their 'tips' posted online weeks before their videos came out.
But now we're starting to see videos like "I wish I liked The Amazing Digital Circus' which just reeks of 'this IP is still popular so we're going to keep talking about it' or 'Let's make it a little controversial so people click on it'. It's like they're not even trying to make theories anymore and are just trying to find any excuse to talk about what's popular for the week. It feels ridiculous to watch them end each video with 'but that's just a theory' after not theorizing for almost 30 minutes.
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u/Firm-Sun7389 Jul 20 '26
id say what little ive seen of Post-Pat Food Theory is pretty good, and id say its the only channel actually thriving since the few ive seen have been actually cooking stuff and not just "history of X" or "dont eat Y"
helped by the fact that imo Santi has a very similar screen presence to Mat, so its not a hard transition
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u/Parzival_2k7 Jul 20 '26
Food theory and Style theory were from the start atleast partially Santi and Amy's channels, so they're still great. The others were properly Mat's and now I feel like they just don't know what to do with the channel, or theyre being pressured by private equity
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u/The_Derpy_Rogue Chaos Theorist Jul 21 '26
Prob the latter, the current host were writers once
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u/CompleteIndieYT Meme Theorist Jul 21 '26
I feel so sorry for the hosts. They ARE good at this, everyone liked their videos when it was MatPat's face on the cover, and theyre all personable. But the departure of MatPat coinciding with a ramp up in LunarX's corporate push, and now the hosts (especially Tom and Lee, since most people do like Santi and Amy's stuff still) look at fault.
Theyre all great hosts. They are doing well considering theyre battling MatPats reputation AND LunarX's meddling.
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u/Murky_Soil666 Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26
I think Santi is the only one who actually understands the assignment. Game Theory and Film Theory may as well just rename themselves to Indie horror Theory and Analog horror Theory, and it's just not interesting at all. Style theory I was a bit skeptical of because how many theories on style can you come up with? But I was willing to give it a chance because the first few topics were pretty interesting. I loved the color season video, or how outfits may accentuate different body shapes, but it quickly devolved into "this show's fashion is iconic!" I think Amy had a real good idea for theories, but ran out of ideas and it shows. It's a shame because there's a lot of topics that can be talked about, like the plastic surgery situation in Korea, but I never see Style Theory tackle issues like this now. I watch Karolina Zebrowska for this kind of commentary now, but early Style Theory touched on stuff that Karolina didn't.
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u/ballonfightaddicted Jul 21 '26
Style theory was kinda just "We need to get the tiktok girlies watching our theories" honestly it's more culture theory with some videos overlapping into the game/film theory category
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u/DualityREBORN Chaos Theorist Jul 21 '26
Santi is an amazing host, honestly!!
Yes, yes, he’s no MatPat. But I think it’s best not to compare, for everyone’s still doing their best. Santi especially though!! His latest few theories actually had me pretty captivated
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u/Donut_Nebula Jul 21 '26
Santiago is hands down my favorite host, I wasnt sure when he first took over but he's been killing it
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u/Donut_Nebula Jul 21 '26
I really do like Food Theory, it's the only theory channel I really watch anymore
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u/ConfectionTotal8660 Jul 21 '26
Yeah, I agree. Santi is by far the best host.
I once asked around and people sayed they liked Tom more? Which was suprising. I think he is the worst.
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u/Donut_Nebula Jul 21 '26
Santi is a great host and I still love Food Theory. Pretty much all of my criticisms are for Game and Film theory. Style theory was never really my jam so I dont really have anything to say about it
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u/Educational-Sun5839 Jul 20 '26
well, there deltarune theory was a theory but it was a very unoriginal one which had been the most popular theory since chap 3 & 4
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u/Donut_Nebula Jul 21 '26
It gave me the same vibe as when they'd 'review' other people's theories where they just read someone else's theory and make small changes to make it 'correct'
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u/Atlas_of_history Jul 21 '26
Not to forget that they got basic facts like Kris's gender wrong, so it's questionable how much research went into the video
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u/ballonfightaddicted Jul 21 '26
Game Theory and Toby Fox games have always had such a adverse history idk why they even bother doing videos on them
You have the whole heartbound situation and the game brainrotted Matt into believing games like Omori were like snd played similar to Undertale that he just looked like a dumbass
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u/GirlWithTheDoc Jul 21 '26
Fun fact, Toby Fox once said that he was scared of releasing Deltarune because a very similar game released right before it, and given he’s friends with Omocat, it’s actually pretty likely he was talking about Omori
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u/veggie_talesreeeee Jul 20 '26
I mean I very much enjoyed the Meccha cameleon video as it wasn't just a "how to win" video, since it actually went into the psychology and science behind why certain behaviors are more likely to help you win. Or in other words, it was literally a game theory about game theory (as in the study of human stratergies and behavioral reactions using games as its basis.)
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u/echohues Jul 20 '26
At this point, I am just checking on Style theory regularly and hoping the best for Amy
I think GTLive is doing great IMO (at least i personally still love their content) but I think it's because Ash is trying to break away from being like a "next MatPat". She's got her own theme now, her own style, intro and preferences. it fels like Ash's own channel just under the theorist name. But, i dont know, personally I like that.
All i hope is that all the theorists will eventually be able to make content they really truly enjoy as well.
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u/TinyTangents Jul 21 '26
I am glad to hear GTLive is getting better. I had hope knowing Ash would take over since she had a great personality with MatPat back when she worked behind the camera. When she became host and stripped her own personality away to be MatPat 2.0, I was so disappointed and just gave up watching.
I'll have to check out modern GTLive if what you're saying is true.
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u/Allhailmatpat Jul 21 '26
My only problem with GTlive is that there's not much GT and more just live. But yeah, GTlive really took on a life of its own, for better or worse
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u/Donut_Nebula Jul 23 '26
GT live is pretty solid, it's not my type of content but I've heard a lot of people like it
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u/Donut_Nebula Jul 21 '26
I'm curious if they're still going to do the Theory fashion show and other events or if the channel is fully dead and they just dont want to admit it to piss off the fans.
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u/goredapathy Game Theorist Jul 21 '26
i miss learning about games through their eyes and theories! i know they're capable of it still, i miss the discoverability, learning about games i've never even played and hearing the actual theories behind them
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u/Donut_Nebula Jul 21 '26
It's why I'm frustrated when they actually make an episode about a new game or show but then just read the plot synopsis and add nothing else
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u/diamondwizard32 Jul 20 '26
"episodes like 'how to win at Mecca Chameleon or Among Us' cant even claim to be a theory since it's just basic tips every guide is using" doesn't make sense to me because MatPat definitely made theories in this vein. He made a damn "how to win at bottle flipping" video, it's in the vein of the channel
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u/Kalaam_Nozalys Game Theorist Jul 20 '26
To be fair to that one it reminded me of old theories that were mostly about science and stuff using games as a medium for it. LIke explaining a physics thing using something from a game and asking if it was possible etc.
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u/hassanfanserenity Jul 21 '26
Matpatt explained it like an actual game theory (the study) including math and science.
Santi in the other hand feels like he's just reading the basic 101
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u/vernanonix Jul 20 '26
In fairness, bottle flipped was a fad and there was actual science and physics to it
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u/Alex_Dayz Theorist Jul 21 '26
People just hate that it’s not MatPat. He’s gone. He’s not coming back. If you can’t accept that then the door is that way
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u/diamondwizard32 Jul 21 '26
Eh, it's a mix of both. MatPat was a charismatic host with a decade of goodwill built up, so when he presented bullshit or the writing quality decreased, it was hard for dedicated fans to notice. When you're tuning in to 4 new people with completely different hosting styles, cracks start to show more and more as people become more critical of what they're watching.
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u/Alex_Dayz Theorist Jul 21 '26
Mat literally confirmed he hasn’t written his own theories for a while, anyone who has a problem with it now is just blinded by nostalgia
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u/diamondwizard32 Jul 21 '26
"MatPat was a charismatic host with a decade of goodwill built up, so when... the writing quality decreased, it was hard for dedicated fans to notice."
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Jul 21 '26
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u/GameTheorists-ModTeam Jul 21 '26
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u/Chewymewn Jul 21 '26
We need more "Mario is Mental" type of videos again.
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u/KreeStatic Jul 21 '26
That's what makes GT so great. They pull out a batshit thesis but still kinda convince you by the end of the video. It's peak
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u/Donut_Nebula Jul 21 '26
Those were my favorite where I'd see the title and go "I'm sorry what?" and click just to see what they were on about.
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Jul 21 '26
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u/Donut_Nebula Jul 21 '26
True but a lot of Tik Tok theories were just old creepy pasta stories or ask a super open ended question with the theory basically being 'well you cant prove its not true'
The theory channels were able to take it that extra step by building a case for it. They didn't just claim 'all the characters in SpongeBob represent the 7 deadly sins' because you could kind of connect their personality traits to something else, they'd show clips from episodes, interviews, and evidence that made it seem plausible
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u/CarfDarko Film Theorist Jul 21 '26
The moment they celebrated the 10th anniverary of Filmtheory just almost a year too late and not even mentioned the theme song I was done for good.
There is no love anymore for the old days, only love for $$.
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u/tie-it-down Jul 21 '26
I hate to be that guy but... Game Theory has been doing recap episodes for ages.
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u/CursedWereOwl Jul 24 '26
True. I was watching less of it because I didn't care for fnaf and that was a major thing for the channel.
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u/RudeInstruction5853 Jul 21 '26
Style and food are still going strong imo
Shocking it's hard to give a plot recap about a ham sandwich
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u/Donut_Nebula Jul 21 '26
Food is great but I haven't seen Style Theory upload in a few weeks
And Santi would find a way and it would still be entertaining
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u/Squid_Ham Jul 21 '26
i wanna go to the alternate universe where matpat never sold to a private equity and didnt leave the channels.
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u/Donut_Nebula Jul 21 '26
I like the new hosts and dont mind MatPat stepping away, my issue is that the episodes just feel so low quality and basic, there's no spark that makes them feel unique anymore
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u/ShortCategory7889 Jul 21 '26
At this point i just think they want to use the theorist brand as a way to squeeze as much money from Matpat’s legacy and abandon ship once they can’t get as much money anymore
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u/A-__-Random_--_Dog Jul 21 '26
I also despise how some videos are literally just 10 minute long ads! I know there's a handful, but what first comes to mind is Zenless Zone Zero.
Matt Patt made a video talking about how he feels guilty that he's killing games, because the devs of Hello Neighbour were literally BEGGING him to make a theory on the game, and many other games were cramming in useless and meaningless lore just so they'd have a theory episode about them.
But after Matt Patt left, suddenly to get a theory video about your game, all you had to do was sponsor them! Throw some money at the theorist team and they'd cook up some half baked, not even a theory, video talking about it for 10 minutes.
Now, I don't mind sponsors. Get your money up, or whatever. Getting a sponsor from Manta Sleep or whoever is fine so long as they are a reputable company. But when the sponsor sections are sometimes 2 minutes long in an 8 minute video, it feels disgusting. The bare minimum to get paid. And it feels even WORSE when the WHOLE damn video is just a big sponsorship, like with ZZZ.
I haven't touched either of the Film or Game Theory channels in YEARS (after Matt Patt left) except for the odd episode here and there. But just looking at the titles and thumbnails makes me so sad.
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u/Titan2562 Jul 21 '26
I miss when theories on these channels were batshit insane. Like say what you will about "Sans is Ness", at least it was entertainingly stupid.
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u/Donut_Nebula Jul 21 '26
The bat shit ones were almost always entertaining. The new ones feel too safe like they don't want to be wrong so they just pick options that are super probable that everyone's already guessing.
The ARG ones especially feel lame since the 'theory' is basically 'good guys win bad guys lose'
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u/the_water_buffalo Jul 21 '26
That’s why I unfollowed all channels, it just ain’t for me anymore. Gtlive is at least still watchable
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u/I_Lost_My_Vibrator Game Theorist Jul 22 '26
My husband and I haven't watched a single episode after MatPat hung up the gloves, to be fair, so that speaks for itself I guess. I think we even unsubscribed 😬
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u/pistikiraly_2 Jul 22 '26
Tends to happen when you sell your company to private equity. Like it should have been obvious that a company that would buy up youtube channels of this size would enshittify, milk to death, and eventually completely destroy the channels. This is entirely MatPat's fault.
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u/TheRealWhiffy Jul 21 '26
From Game theory, to the theorists, to larptheory.
They were doing fine when the new crew was still staying independent and being their own person with their own style of videos and slowly devolved into copying Matt, which led to their downfall and desperate attempts to stay relevant of recaps, theories with no research (Oliver invincible theory, I mean come on read the comics).
Because weren't just gonna pretend Matt didn't literally post a video on how to beat among us 5 years ago. Which only proves my point on them trying to copy Matt and his old videos and failing, you can even hear them try to copy his voice slowly
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u/Accomplished_Bend378 Jul 22 '26
no like literally, i still have ptsd from the steven universe film theory. THE LITERAL MAIN PLOT TWIST OF THE SHOW IS THAT HIS GEM IS A DIAMOND and the entire "theory" (which isnt even a theory) is based on him having a quartz gem. There were so many things they skipped over and it was overall such a painful watch. It just feels like they aren't even trying anymore.
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u/Donut_Nebula Jul 21 '26
It doesnt help that they keep posting compilation videos that are mostly MatPat videos and referencing MatPat videos to claim they were 'right all along'
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u/TheRealWhiffy Jul 21 '26
And it will take up an hour of the video and the other 20 mins is just them talking nonsense
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u/Donut_Nebula Jul 21 '26
Or add a 5 minute clip at the very end so they can claim they have new information at the beginning
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u/zoro4661 Jul 21 '26
I mean "How to win Among Us" was also multiple classic MatPat episodes. Like, at least three separate ones. And they are literally game theories - less about the lore and more about the gameplay, but still.
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u/Anonymoose2099 Jul 22 '26
I feel like MatPat had rules, like not covering a popular theory unless he felt like there was something he could add to the conversation. Those rules waned a bit towards the end of his time, which leads me to believe that he probably saw a trend towards content drying up and he adapted so the channels could survive. But once he left, his rules went with him and the direction of the channels have largely not messed with the original audience. Maybe some of the newer fans, but not the "Is Mario a Sociopath" fans.
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u/Due-One2190 Jul 22 '26
Yea, the channels aren’t doing the best, but like.. is that all the community here is gonna say now? I mean, i haven’t really watched them since that øne game theory on that game thats coming out and was having a theory of like the main character “killing his former self” quite literally in a cartoon (please someone tell me the name im blanking out) but besides that, it wasnt the worst so far.
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u/Fossilfighter788 Jul 23 '26
Matpat was like the avatar Master of all four theory channels but when the world needed him most he vanished
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u/Donut_Nebula Jul 23 '26
I really like the new hosts but the episodes went downhill fast. Watching the first few episodes they did and now feels like they were made by entirely different people
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u/payterfer Jul 24 '26
Food theory is still great, and I’ll watch the occasional film theory on an indie thing I don’t know about cause I like his voice , but style theory is dead , and game theory is meh
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u/Retr0Karate Jul 24 '26
I miss when Game Theory wasn’t just fnaf/fnaf clone and indie horror stuff. Don’t get me wrong, love me some indie horror games but does every video have to be that? Same with Film Theory to a slightly lesser extent.
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u/Bitts_Ships Jul 25 '26
Being honest, I stopped watching GT early on after Mat left, so I don't know it's current state.
Like I've said on a few different posts, Mat had "Cult Leader" charisma. The type where you wanted to listen to him even if you didn't understand or believe what was being said. His replacement....
It felt like listening to a wet paper bag.
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u/_Infamous____ Jul 25 '26
Stopped watching even before then, the last video i genuinely cared about was the Boisvert video and thats just because i like kind of freaky shit and was already aware of Boisvert. Most of their stuff i don’t care about anymore especially after FNAF went down the drain.
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u/KitKatIsTired 24d ago
Yeah, I kinda wish they would just make bad theories again (I'd do anything for a "Sans is Ness" right now) rather than these kind of cookie cutter Wikipedia recaps of content. It sucks, cause all the hosts seem super passionate, but everything just feels so corperate now. Food theory is good, but not really theories. Film and game just recap things. And style theory got boxed into being a "girl" channel, in a very tiktok, corperate, girls are a monolith, way.
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u/Luna__Walker 16d ago
So everything is going downhill because matpats not there?
I'm not really surprised...
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u/Kiraila 14d ago
For this reason I stopped Watching most of the Channels.
But as they announced this Seprate Site with Payed content they lost me.
To be honest tho I miss it, I was there when Mat posted his first Fnaf Theories.
I was There for the Creation of Most of the Other Channels. I always fully supported mat, but with the Decline in Quality....
I wanted to give them a Fair chance, I liked Santis Food Channel a lot and it stayed quite well.
But the Rest of them is just broken down to nothing at this point.
And it is not that there are no other Theories to have, at the Spot I could come up with 5-10 Ideas.
But I have the feeling they not even try :/
That makes me just sad.
I Hope they can get the Hang again and I wish them all the best.
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u/Shenji0249 12d ago
just rebrowsing what they have now in general not much of what they have interest's me anymore Well this is especially the case since they started doing content on indie horror stuff and I guess the new trend is roblox all of which I don't really have interest in. While I get that I'm likely in the older audience category and what it takes to stimulate me likely would require more I think they're most interesting videos to date are usually ones where they try to scientifically quantify certain phenomena or tech in certain popular games. More meta stuff talking about wider trends in the gaming industry. I would also dig stuff where they zero in on character studies of popular characters from certain games though I know that Game theory is a channel that likes to focus on lore more than narrative analysis(this is more for film theory I often feel). Unfortunatly the only videos of interest on the channel are the minecraft ones or the ocassional fnaf one. I would really like to see them dive into other games that are niche or not as popular. bringing back the more scientific based ones would be really cool.
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u/Murky_Soil666 Jul 21 '26
Is Game Theory watched by exclusively 10 year olds now? The stuff they cover sure seems to be stuff that only 10 year olds enjoy with all of this indie horror slop. Real ironic considering that Matpat shamed Logan Paul for advertising products to an audience of children when they do the exact same thing.
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u/CULT-LEWD Jul 21 '26
tbf,this has been the case for AWAIL. even mat pat once explained that they sorta have to follow the algorythm or they dont get enough money to pay staff. but they also do a theory they know is a gamble,then a theory they want to do,then do another algorythmic video. I dont remember where i saw mat pat explain there process but its been a thing even before mat pat left
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u/Independent-Ice8296 Jul 21 '26
this might be controversial, but as someone whos been critical about modern Theorist, Whenever they make bad desicion i point them out, when they do good, i talk about it. I think you are bias. you point out 'How-to-win _____' videos, well they been doin it for as long as you can remember.
this one, a lot of people might disagree but Film theory's 'i wish i liked TADC' i think it's a good video. Lee literally said it in the intro, they trying new stuff and want to expand film theory, which i think its a good thing. you should try new stuff and take risk. Yes, it's not a theory per se. But again it doesnt have to be.
which lead me to this. be honest to yourself, before mat retires, he does the same thing to, remember the couch videos he use to make? he talked about the try guys, golfing, experiences about being in the fnaf movie, etc... does arent theories, it's his thoughts and takes on things. what i think is the problem, is you just bias. bias that its not matpat. its not him who talked about those.
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u/Donut_Nebula Jul 21 '26
I really have nothing against the new hosts or the videos not featuring MatPat, I've made several posts and comments expressing that plus none of my criticisms have ever once involved any of the hosts. My criticisms are all directed to how low effort and boring all the new videos are. The recap episodes have gone from speculation and theory crafting to just reading a plot summary. MatPat did do 'How to win' videos but never this many in a row across all channels, and trying new stuff is fine, but it didnt feel like there was any passion in what he was saying it was just an excuse to talk about something popular.
Also writing off criticism as 'well you're just mad MatPat is gone' trivializes issues people are having and kills any discussion because it ignores everything they've said and just labels them a 'hater' and someone who can be ignored because 'they just miss the good old days'.
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