PewDiePie Reveals Why He Never Quit YouTube

Although PewDiePie has continued to stream and make videos on a semi-regular basis — with a few breaks in between — the content creator has maintained that he's more or less left the YouTube rat race behind. Over the last couple of years, PewDiePie has told fans that he feels like he's retired on more than one occasion. As he explained in late 2021, he basically just makes videos for fun these days, and questions about the direction of his channel don't necessarily interest him anymore. 

These days, PewDiePie is comfortable with his subscriber count, even giving props to MrBeast when he realized his fellow YouTuber was about to pass his number of followers. This is a far cry from the PewDiePie who dropped diss tracks aimed at popular YouTube channels such as T-Series and "Cocomelon." But even so, fans may be wondering why he's remained pretty prolific for a guy who insists he's retired.

On Sept. 14, 2022, PewDiePie uploaded a video to his YouTube channel explaining to his fans why he ultimately decided not to quit.

At the top of the video, PewDiePie explained that he was completely at peace with the idea of quitting YouTube forever a few years ago. However, his mind began to change when he started reminiscing about his YouTube beginnings. He explained that he remembered how unhappy he was at school and that YouTube originally felt like a way for him to get away from the track he was on. Because of his fans, that dream became a reality. "It wasn't even a job back then, really, for gaming channels, at least," explained PewDiePie. He added, "Just remembering just how stuck I felt back then, to now, where I just feel so free, I just wanted to ... say thank you for that. For making that possible."

According to PewDiePie, it would make some logical sense for him to retire at this point, since he and his wife Marzia are finally settled in their dream home in Japan. However, he described his continued presence on the channel as being similar to a post-credits scene in a movie. PewDiePie explained to viewers that he most felt like retiring a few years ago when he was facing one controversy after another. However, the fact that there were still so many friends and fans supporting him made him feel like he shouldn't give up yet. The fact of the matter is, PewDiePie says, he's grown up a lot since then.

"I look back on my ten years on YouTube and ... I would do it all again in a heartbeat," said PewDiePie. "I'm so grateful for all the memories and experience that I had so far, but the thing is: I don't want to do it again. Because I'm a different person now because of it!" So what's next for PewDiePie and his channel?

"So, two years ago, I said I was gonna retire," said PewDiePie. "And that confused a lot of people, because I still uploaded videos. But the thing is, what I meant was I just want to do YouTube the way I did it when I started, which was for fun." This change in mindset had also led to him avoiding controversy. Without worrying about competing with anyone and by just focusing on making what he wanted to make, he began to enjoy his channel once more.

"That's when I realized, you know, 'Why should I quit?,'" PewDiePie pondered. "It's my dream, after all, to do YouTube. I've worked so hard for this."

PewDiePie looked back on all of the different kinds of content he'd made over the years, from "Call of Duty" to horror game reactions, and acknowledged that a number of fans have asked him to return to some of his older video formats. However, Pewds explained, he's moved on from much of that content. His current plan is to continue to make the types of videos he's been doing for the last couple of years, and moving at the same pace. After all, he's still doing YouTube because he loves to do it. PewDiePie did tease that he has filmed something more longform that he'll be revealing soon, but that his big priority these days is enjoying his new life in Japan.

So there you have it. Fans can rest easy knowing that PewDiePie isn't going away in the near future. He's going to continue making and uploading videos for his viewers for as long as it's fun for him — and he's going to do it on his own terms.