The Real Reason Markiplier Put YouTube On Blast After Game On

Gaming fans weren't totally sure what to expect from YouTube's "Game On" event when it was announced in early August 2022, but the show seemed like an opportune time to allow content creators to highlight what makes YouTube Gaming so attractive to many streamers. The show was set to feature a star-studded guestlist, which included some of the biggest names on YouTube. Markiplier was featured in promotional videos for "Game On," and many fans were excited to see him appearing at an event.

"Game On" itself was supposed to allow viewers to vote for what segment they wanted to see next. However, despite appearing in the promotional video for "Game On," Markiplier's involvement in the show itself seemed remarkably brief. Some gamers questioned why the platform would prominently feature Markiplier in its marketing and then ultimately not include any specific segment from him. Even Markiplier himself seemed confused about why his segment had been cut, taking to Twitter soon after the event to communicate with fans about what he planned to do next.

Both Markiplier and the fan community at large put YouTube on blast after "Game On" premiered. While Markiplier took direct action to show fans the content he had created for the event, many of those same viewers drew connections between Markiplier's "Game On" snub and a larger issue going on in the YouTube community.

Markiplier was clearly ready for his sement to air on "Game On," tweeting that fans weren't ready for what he had prepared for the event, but soon after the stream actually began, Markiplier noticed something strange. On Aug. 27, Markiplier tweeted the simple question, "...did YouTube really cut the rest of my segment?" Fans quickly noted that while Markiplier still appeared in the chapter descriptions for the event, his segment did appear to have been cut, and many of the chapter labels were incorrectly labeled.

Soon after his initial tweet, Markiplier concluded, "yeah... YouTube cut it. sure glad lixian, marcus, rachel, nervly, and I busted our a**es to get the segment ready for the big Game On event just for it to be cut without warning. f*** that, i'll put it on my channel tomorrow."

As promised, Markiplier uploaded a video the next day simply titled "YouTube Cut This Content." Like much of the content in "Game On," Markiplier's segment allowed viewers to make their own decisions, answering questions and participating in an interactive story.

The video takes the form of an analog horror game, with grainy, VHS-styled graphics and distorted sounds and images. Though the videos play out in the same order no matter what viewers choose, each clip ends with a question players must answer in order to progress to the next video. The videos show viewers a fake ad for a product called Burn It, a drink that allegedly erases burnout, but has horrendous side effects, like a smile that wraps all the way around a person's head. Ultimately, the videos reveal that a rift between dimensions has opened, allowing doppelgangers from another world to infiltrate our own. Eventually, viewers are told to get back to the "Game On" broadcast.

While viewers were disappointed to miss out on Markiplier's segment, they had plenty of theories about why it might have been cut in the first place. Many suspected that the entire "Game On" event might have been a way to distract from other things going on at YouTube, specifically recent discussions about racism and favoritism.

YouTuber CoryxKenshin recently posted a video alleging that YouTube is either engaging in racist practices or favoritism (based on how much money creators make them) because some creators have their content removed or age restricted while others are allowed to leave similar content available and unrestricted. He specifically cited an incident where he posted a video of the game "Mortuary Assistant," which got age-restricted. Markiplier, on the other hand, uploaded a similar playthrough of the game that remained available. In response, Markiplier made a video with the intention of getting age-restricted, perhaps as a comment on YouTube's practices. 24 hours after the video was originally posted, it still wasn't age-restricted.

Fans, for the most part, seem confused about how YouTube can move forward. One tweeted that they didn't know how YouTube could possibly respond to "(a) validating CoryxKenshin's claims of favoritism and/or racism by not age-restricting Markiplier's video and (b) cutting Mark's segment from Game On after using his face to advertise it. Any backlash is well-deserved." Markiplier has not tweeted anything since his initial complaint, nor has YouTube commented on the incident, despite fan outcry.