PewDiePie Interview Highlights: Fame, Burnout and Doing It His Way

For most of the 2010s, PewDiePie was the biggest individual creator on YouTube, and for most of the 2020s he has been trying to be a smaller one. Few creators have talked as openly about both halves.

This post is for creators deciding how hard to push, for marketers sizing up a creator who kept brand deals to a minimum and then lost a major partnership, and for curious fans. It covers how he started, what he makes, the T-Series race, burnout, brands and his 2026 projects.

He gives few interviews, so many answers below come from his videos as quoted by the press, and every quote is dated, because his views have changed.

Who is PewDiePie?

PewDiePie is the online name of Felix Kjellberg, a Swedish YouTuber born in Gothenburg in 1989, who became famous for Let’s Play gaming videos and ran the most-subscribed channel on YouTube for most of 2013 to 2019.

A Let’s Play is a video of someone playing a game while commenting on it. Kjellberg registered his channel in April 2010 and first became YouTube’s most-subscribed creator in August 2013. Apart from brief spells, he kept that title until the Indian record label T-Series passed him in March 2019, according to Wikipedia, and in August 2019 he became the first individual creator to reach 100 million subscribers. TIME named him one of its 100 most influential people in 2016.

How did PewDiePie get started?

“I was so shy back then. … It was so weird to me, sitting alone in a room talking into a microphone. That was unheard of back at the time. No one really did it.”

— PewDiePie, Rolling Stone, December 2015

He started the channel while studying industrial engineering and management at Chalmers University of Technology. He told Icon magazine in 2014 that commenters first asked him for more videos after he filmed himself screaming through the horror game Amnesia. Gaming was already big on YouTube, he said, but nobody was yet its face, so there was room for someone like him.

He left Chalmers in 2011 and worked at a hot dog kiosk, Rolling Stone reported; when a network deal let him quit, he called it one of the greatest moments of his life. He passed 1 million subscribers in July 2012 and signed with Maker Studios that December.

“I remember there were five security guards yelling at a crowd to back up — it was out of control. It was shocking to find myself in that situation, where I was that celebrity person.”

— PewDiePie, Rolling Stone, December 2015

That was a gaming event near his hometown around 2011. The lesson is in how he found his format: he noticed which video made viewers ask for more, and made more.

How does PewDiePie decide what to make next?

“The games that are the best suited for YouTube are the really terrible games – if you want to be nice you could call them diamonds in the rough. … often great games result in boring videos.”

— PewDiePie, Icon magazine (Sweden), October 2014

He told Rolling Stone in 2015 that he picks games that aren’t widely discussed, and sometimes notoriously bad ones, because the point is his real reaction. He told Icon the trailer for the horror game Slender had about 50 views when he found it, and that sales of games jump when he plays them.

Later, his rule was simpler: make what he finds fun, even if views fall.

“Years ago I did horror, and when I stopped my views dropped then. I’m allowed to change. I stopped worrying about if people were watching, and started making things I wanted.”

— PewDiePie, in a YouTube video, as quoted by Sportskeeda, December 2021

Enjoyment can also be good strategy. In June 2019 he ran a Gaming Week and found he loved Minecraft, a game he had avoided because he felt many creators played it only for its popularity. His channel drew 573 million views that July, then a monthly record, according to Wikipedia. Pick the topic you would still play with the camera off.

How does PewDiePie make a video?

“I want YouTube to be YouTube … There are so many channels now that are just big companies…I’m just one guy and I still manage somehow and I hope that can inspire people.”

— PewDiePie, in a vlog, as quoted by Tubefilter, March 2014

In 2014 he had no manager or assistant, Icon reported, and when its reporter met him at 8 a.m., he had been up for two hours editing. Rolling Stone described the routine a year later: he left home at 9 a.m. to record, edit and upload at a nearby flat, answered comments himself and, for Let’s Plays, simply set the camera rolling.

Pace was the hard part. According to Wikipedia, the Swedish newspaper Expressen reported in 2012 that he had uploaded at least one video a day for seven months. In March 2014 he announced he would cut from five to seven videos a week to four to six, telling fans there is more to life than making videos, Tubefilter reported. He later hired an editor and a production assistant.

A daily schedule built around one person has no slack, so decide what you’ll drop before you need to.

What does PewDiePie say works on YouTube now?

His main message is that subscriber counts mislead. In late 2016 he complained about unexplained subscriber losses and an algorithm he felt was working against creators; Google told Ars Technica nothing was out of the ordinary. Then the race with T-Series inflated his own numbers: the fan campaign to “subscribe to PewDiePie” brought 6.62 million new subscribers in December 2018 alone, close to his total for all of 2017, according to Wikipedia. T-Series passed him on March 27, 2019, and the next month he asked fans to drop the slogan.

“This channel is so hyper-inflated by the T-Series rivalry, so it’s not like they’re all my dedicated fans anyway.”

— PewDiePie, in a YouTube video, as quoted by Sportskeeda, December 2021

He was answering a meme about his videos drawing about 2 million views each. MrBeast passed him as the most-subscribed individual creator in November 2022 (see our MrBeast interview), and Kjellberg’s count has drifted to about 109 million; Wikipedia notes that his absence from short-form video let other channels overtake him. He isn’t a fan: in March 2026 he complained that Shorts are everywhere on YouTube and showed an extension, built with his own AI, that hides them, Dexerto reported.

A big lifetime subscriber count can include many people who no longer watch, which is why our methodology judges creators on average views across their last 10 posts.

Why did PewDiePie step back from YouTube?

“I wanted to say it in advance, because I made up my mind. I’m tired, I’m tired, I’m feeling very tired … Early next year, I’ll be away for a little while.”

— PewDiePie, in a YouTube video, as quoted by CBS News, December 2019

The signs came early. In 2014 he told Icon the work never left his mind and he expected to tire eventually. In August 2019 he said it would be nice not to have YouTube in his brain for the first time in 10 years, Yahoo News UK reported. The early-2020 break lasted only about a month, but in a November 2020 Q&A he said he considered himself retired.

“I realized at that time that, you know, to keep trying to push the channel to grow more and more and more all the time wasn’t doing anything for me personally. I wasn’t getting anything out of the money, or the recognition, or the fame.”

— PewDiePie, in his “Why I didn’t quit” video, as quoted by Sportskeeda, September 2022

He said in the same video that drama and scrutiny had come to outweigh the good, and that being retired meant doing YouTube the way he did at the start: for fun. He and Marzia moved to Japan in May 2022, where, he said that June, he could let his guard down because hardly anyone recognized them. He paused uploads again in June 2023 ahead of their son’s birth that July.

Other creators have also cut back on regular uploads; compare our Casey Neistat and Emma Chamberlain interviews. A schedule you can keep for 10 years beats one you can keep for two.

What mistakes does PewDiePie say he made early on?

He rarely calls anything a mistake, but two regrets stand out: an early contract, and how much of his life the channel took.

“It was managed in such a terrible way. During the time I was a member of their network, I grew into the world’s biggest YouTuber – and they didn’t even know I was with them!”

— PewDiePie, Icon magazine, October 2014

He meant Machinima, the first network he joined. A multi-channel network is a company that signs YouTube channels and takes a share of their ad revenue in return for services. Icon reported that his contract tied him to Machinima for life and that leaving took his own lawyer and half a year of legal work.

“For my entire 20s, I did nothing but Youtube. That was my life and that’s ok … But I also think it was a little toxic.”

— PewDiePie, in a YouTube video, as quoted by Dexerto, June 2023

He credited his own change of mindset, not Japan. The lessons: have a lawyer read any network or management contract, and build a life outside the channel before you need one.

What advice does PewDiePie give new creators?

Kjellberg rarely gives step-by-step advice, and what he does say is mostly cautionary.

“To drop out of university to pursue YouTube, that’d just be f***ing stupid”

— PewDiePie, in a 2017 video, as quoted by SVG, August 2023

He has said he left Chalmers because the course bored him, not to chase YouTube, and he kept a day job until a network deal let him quit. In 2014 he told fans that if he could do it alone, so could they, Tubefilter reported.

He told Icon in 2014 that many viewers saw him as a friend to hang out with for 15 minutes a day, a good test for any personality-led channel. If you’re starting out, keep your studies or job, make videos you would want to watch, and judge them on whether people stay.

What does PewDiePie say about working with brands?

“I know I could rapidly double my income if I started licensing my name to products, sponsorships or appearing in various commercial contexts, but I don’t really feel like it. I’m not primarily in this for the money.”

— PewDiePie, Icon magazine, October 2014

He told Icon that other YouTubers who started selling were making a mistake. He still took selected campaigns, such as a 2014 miniseries with Marzia promoting the film As Above, So Below, brokered by Maker Studios, according to Wikipedia. In January 2019 he announced a partnership with G Fuel, which sells his own energy drink flavor, and Dexerto reported in 2021 that he earns commission on it and on affiliate links in his video descriptions. If you use affiliate links, our guide to disclosing affiliate links and sponsorships covers how to label them.

His own businesses include the Tsuki clothing brand, launched with Marzia, the gaming apparel line Based, mobile games and a 2015 parody self-help book, according to Dexerto and Wikipedia.

His biggest brand relationship ended badly. In February 2017, after The Wall Street Journal reported that nine of his recent videos included anti-Semitic jokes or Nazi imagery, Disney’s Maker Studios cut ties with him and YouTube cancelled the second season of his YouTube Red series, according to NPR. Kjellberg said the jokes were not meant to endorse hate but acknowledged they were offensive, and criticized the Journal’s coverage. Brands should review a creator’s back catalog, not just recent uploads; our checklist on how to vet a YouTube creator covers what to look at.

What is PewDiePie working on now?

As of October 2026, his projects are mostly about technology, privacy and family.

“This all started because of privacy concerns … Being tracked with literally everything I do just feels kind of odd.”

— PewDiePie, in a YouTube video, as quoted by PC Gamer, July 2025

In mid-2025 he said he had stopped using Google’s free services apart from YouTube, and PC Gamer reported he runs Arch Linux on his desktop. By November 2025 he had built his first PC, was learning to code and was running AI models on a 10-GPU machine at home, Tom’s Hardware reported. That month he told readers of his newsletter that, since becoming a father, he was stepping back from playing video games, according to Geeks + Gamers. At the end of May 2026 he released Odysseus, a free, open-source, self-hosted AI workspace, Dexerto reported, and in October he unveiled Ajax, a model built for it, saying OpenAI had banned him twice while he worked on it, according to Tom’s Hardware.

In March 2025 he said the family would stay in Japan. In May 2026 he announced that the family vlogs would end in September, saying their son, then 3, should choose later whether to appear online.

“I love making videos, and I’m going to keep making videos obviously, and I love sharing videos, and I love the community aspect, but I do not love being famous. I actually kind of hate it.”

— PewDiePie, in a YouTube video, as quoted by Dexerto, September 2026

He said he will keep posting, and that he and Marzia will keep their monthly newsletter. The thread from 2014 to 2026 is control: over his time, his data and how much of his family viewers see.

What creators can learn from PewDiePie

Sources

• PewDiePie decides to scale back, Tubefilter, March 2014
• The most powerful Swede in the world, Icon magazine, October 2014
• The Cult of PewDiePie, Rolling Stone, December 2015
• Disney Company Drops YouTube Star PewDiePie Over Anti-Semitic Jokes, NPR, February 2017
• PewDiePie will quit YouTube for a little while next year, CBS News, December 2019
• PewDiePie announces break from platform, Yahoo News UK, December 2019
• How does PewDiePie make money?, Dexerto, June 2021
• PewDiePie explains why dwindling YouTube views do not worry him, Sportskeeda, December 2021
• PewDiePie reveals the biggest reason he loves living in Japan, Dexerto, June 2022
• PewDiePie explains why he hasn’t quit YouTube, Sportskeeda, September 2022
• PewDiePie says he is “finally free” from content grind, Dexerto, June 2023
• PewDiePie welcomes baby boy with wife Marzia, Dexerto, July 2023
• What PewDiePie was like before all the fame, SVG, August 2023
• PewDiePie makes big decision about his future in Japan, Dexerto, March 2025
• PewDiePie is going all in on deGoogling, PC Gamer, July 2025
• PewDiePie goes all-in on self-hosting AI, Tom’s Hardware, November 2025
• PewDiePie quitting playing video games, Geeks + Gamers, November 2025
• PewDiePie reveals how he ‘fixed’ YouTube’s algorithm, Dexerto, March 2026
• PewDiePie ending YouTube vlogs to protect his son’s privacy, Dexerto, May 2026
• PewDiePie launches his answer to ChatGPT, Dexerto, June 2026
• PewDiePie ends family vlogs on YouTube, Dexerto, September 2026
• PewDiePie unveils Ajax AI model, Tom’s Hardware, October 2026
• PewDiePie, Wikipedia, October 2026

What to do next

If PewDiePie’s warning about subscriber counts rings true, judge creators by who is still watching. Our lists rank creators on recent videos rather than lifetime totals.

For more creators’ answers to the same questions, browse the series on the Topfluencers blog.