Matthew Patrick, better known as MatPat, has announced his retirement from the YouTube channels Game Theory, Film Theory, Food Theory, and Style Theory set for March 9th… but what happens to the channels without their host of 13 years?
Covered in his video titled “Goodbye Internet”, MatPat announces that he will be taking a step down from the four channels, and Matthew has known for an extensive amount of time that this would come sooner or later. In his video addressing his retirement, he says, "Steph (his wife) and I have known this video would be coming for the last 3 years… That's why over the last couple of years we've been staffing up so much, and that's why we partnered with a larger company to help run the channels. That's why we've been spending so much time outside of this ‘box’ training the team to make the best videos they can because we knew we couldn't do this forever. We knew that honestly, we didn't want to do this forever.”
With Matthew’s new team and retirement, it begs the question, who gets the channels? Over time, to ensure a smooth transition between hosts, these new hosts have been featured more and more throughout the past few years to make a seamless transition from one host to another. Rather than following the same path Matthew did by going solo, he will be passing his channels down to the respective 4 hosts.
The new host for Film Theory will be Forrest Lee, a member of Matthew’s team who has already worked for him and his film theories specifically for over 10 years. Amy Roberts will take over Style Theory and will be the one hosting all the fashion theories from now on, according to Matthew, her ambition and perseverance were so amazing from the beginning when she came to the theorists, which made her perfect for the host role. On Food Theory, Santi Massa will gain the host role, and shortly after meeting Matthew, he took a job at “Good Mythical Morning” with hosts Rhett and Link before returning to the theorists and helping with the food theorists, later becoming its host! Tom, a previous employee at Disney and Fox, aspired to be part of The Game Theorists. Two years ago his first game, Game Theory, proved his ambition to Matthew and that he was a clear option as the new host.
As closure and a final goodbye for Matthew's retirement, he will be having nine final theories on the channels and then fully retire on the 9th of May, although it is saddening to see such a renowned host. For some, as a Youtuber that strongly influenced their childhood, many fans are glad that Matthew is taking a step back from the channels and fully respect him for his choice. "I don't love late nights. I don't love the fact that Steph and I have been putting work first for over a decade... but honestly, I want to be able to spend more time with him (Oliver, his firstborn child). Another sad fact of the matter is I'm getting older.” he says in his video, and the support he’s gotten with his decision is outstanding. Many people will miss seeing Matthew as the head of these channels, but in the end, the 13 years of having Matthew as the host of the four channels will be unforgettable, and his fanbase wishes him good luck for whatever journey he takes after his retirement.
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.