YouTube king PewDiePie, whose Bro Army surpassed 102 million subscribers over the recent year, knocked his fans out with the announcement: “It's been real, but I'm out!” In the video, with this title, 30-year-old Felix Kjellberg, which is Pewds’ real name, told his online flock that after ten years on the platform, he is finally taking a break.
“This is the last video. No, I’m not quitting media as much as you wanted but this is my final video. And of course, it’s LWIAY”, he said in the opening of his popular segment, uncorking a bottle and pouring a drink.
He admitted to his “9-year-olds”, as he calls his subscribers, that the truth is he does not want to go on a break and he loves making videos, but he feels like he needs to do this.
“Thank you for watching across the years. I know I’m making this a bigger thing than it is but it is weird for me. It is a big thing even if it is not a big thing, OK. So, I just want to say thank you for watching my videos that you are watching because I like making it”, he said, raising his glass for his viewers.
He explained that the last year had seen so much piling up (apparently, meaning the wedding with his long-time blogger girlfriend Marzia, the race for subscribers with the Indian media giant T-Series, and the uproar around a terrorist in New Zealand mentioning Pewds in his livestream during an attack) that he wanted to cool down for a bit. He touted that he would make a comeback one day, but did not say when it might happen.
Despite the reassuring address to his fan army, they did not seem to cope well with PewDiePie’s departure. They flooded Twitter with sad comments, but could not avoid having a bit of fun, sharing memes, as well.