Who Is Pewdiepie?
Computer gaming is very big business. It is so big that it has also led to the creation of other industries, which themselves can become quite large. One such industry is that of videos of gamers playing games and giving a running commentary. Those that are successful can become very successful indeed with huge international followings.
One such star is PewDiePie. He wasn’t the first to do what he does but he has been one of the most successful. In addition to his successes, he has also come in for a lot of criticism. He has had an interesting life so far and here’s a look at some of the highlights.
1. Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg
PewDiePies real name is Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg. He was born in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1989, but he currently lives in Brighton and Hove, England. His father is a corporate executive while his mother is a former CIO (Chief Digital Information Officer).
When he was young, he had an interest in art and would spend much of his time drawing popular gaming characters such as Sonic the Hedgehog and Mario. He would sometimes skip classes so he could play video games with his friends. He studied at the Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg but dropped out because he did not find the course interesting.
2. PewDiePie
PewDie was the name that Kjellberg used when he first registered a YouTube account in 2006. According to Kjellberg, the “pew” refers to the sound of lasers and the “die” refers to death. Presumably, the image was that gaming characters were being killed by him firing lasers.
Unfortunately, he forgot his password for the original account and had to set up another one. The second account was called PewDiePie. Kjellberg is also known as Pewds and Saladass, but PewDiePie is the name that he is known as by his many fans around the world. Kjellberg refers to his many fans as his Bros.
3. Getting Started
Some people suggest that he dropped out of Chalmers University to focus on his YouTube career. Kjellberg denies this, however, and says that he simply was not interested in the course. Kjellberg’s parents were not happy that he chose to leave education and they refused to support him, meaning he had to find a way to support himself.
In order to support himself, Kjellberg worked at a hot dog stand and also sold prints of art that he created on Photoshop. This income helped him to produce his early videos, but he didn’t think at the time that it would turn into such an illustrious career.
4. Gaming Videos
Early on, Kjellberg would make videos with commentaries of him playing games like Call of Duty, Minecraft, and Amnesia: The Dark Descent. In September 2011, he created “Fridays with PewDiePie,” which was a weekly vlog. Just a few months later in July 2012, Kjellberg’s channel had reached 1 million subscribers.
The number reached 2 million in September of the same year. His channel was ranked as the number 1 YouTube channel by OpenSlate that October. In the same month, he apologized for rape jokes he had made in some of his earlier videos and vowed not to do it anymore.
5. Breaking Records
In 2013, Kjellberg’s channel reached 15 million subscribers, for which was given a certificate by the Guinness Book Of Records. His channel was one of the fastest growing at the time and, by the end of 2013, his channel would get a new subscriber every 1.037 seconds. Previously that year, he was given the “Swedish Social Star” award.
According to Billboard, Kjellberg’s channel attracted more subscribers out of all the channels in 2013. This number of subscribers led to nearly 1.3 billion views of the videos that he produced. His channels also show no sign of slowing up and PewDiePie is likely to be publishing videos for many more years to come.
6. He Has His Own Video Games
PewDiePie is known for his videos in which he gives a running commentary while he is playing video games. In addition to producing videos, Kjellberg has also had a couple of games produced himself.
In 2015, he released “PewDiePie: Legend of the Brofist.” It is an adventure game in which PewDiePie himself is on a mission to save his fans (his Bros). The second game, released in 2016, is PewDiePie’s Tuber Simulator. This is a simulator style game where you get to develop your very own office with the aim of owning the biggest channel on YouTube, just as Kjellberg did himself.
7. Fan Problems
Kjellberg’s huge fanbase has helped to make him very successful, something that he no doubt appreciates so much. Having such a lot of adoring fans, however, is not always a good thing. There are times when it can get a bit too much and Kjellberg has had such an experience.
Some adoring fans have been able to find out Kjellberg’s address so they can then show up at his house. Even stars need some privacy and having people surrounding your own home can be quite unnerving. Kjellberg has had to move home on more than one occasion so he can maintain his privacy.
8. His Girlfriend Was a Fan
We’ve already mentioned how Kjellberg has had difficulties with fans, but attention from fans has not always been a bad thing. Indeed, it was through his videos that Kjellberg got to know his girlfriend.
A friend of Marzia Bisognin’s once sent her a link to one of Kjellberg’s videos and she liked it so much that she wrote to Kjellberg, and he wrote back to her. They kept in touch and Kjellberg travelled to Italy after he had saved enough money. They both now live happily in the UK together but they no longer have to save up for travelling costs.
9. Charity Work
We live in a world where a large number of people are in real need of help. We should all do what we can to help out, provided we are able to, and even a little contribution can go a long way to improving somebody’s life. Kjellberg himself has used some of his fame and money help out a number of charities.
The charities Kjellberg has helped out so far include Save the Children, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, The World Wildlife Foundation (WWF), and Product Red. After winning the “gaming king of the web” prize in 2012, he gave his winnings to the WWF. His channel has also helped to raise in excess of $1 million for charity.
10. An Effective Influencer
In todays marketing jargon, an influencer is somebody that others listen to when it comes to certain products and services. Kjellberg can be considered to be an influencer when it comes to games and he has the potential to make all the difference for some of the smaller game producers. Indie games are those made by small independent producers.
They tend to be low-budget productions and the graphic quality is usually low, but that does not mean to say they can’t be a lot of fun to play. If somebody like Kjellberg was to make a video involving an indie game, the games makers might be in for a considerable windfall.
