PewDiePie's Deleted Channel Trolls, Drives Up Net Worth

If you were on Twitter yesterday, there was a good chance you heard that Felix Kjellberg, otherwise known by his YouTube handle of PewDiePie, planned to delete his channel. The famous YouTuber announced last week that he would delete his channel once his account hit 50 million subscribers – a milestone that would be a first in YouTube history. Yesterday, his channel hit that 50 million figure, and he announced via Twitter that he would delete his channel today at 5 PM GMT.

5 PM GMT on December 9 has come and gone, yet PewDiePie's channel remains. As it turns out, PewDiePie didn't have any intention of deleting his main channel. He did delete a channel, but it was alternate channel named Jack Scepticeye2. It was all, as he describes it, a joke that blew up way bigger than he ever imagined it would.

So, no, PewDiePie is here to stay, along with 50 million subscribers and the impressive net worth he's amassed throughout the years. While some will call this a publicity stunt, this whole fiasco does serve a purpose. Yes, in the end it may draw new people to his channel, but in PewDiePie's original video, he pointed to the current state of YouTube, where viewers are becoming automatically unsubscribed from channels they follow, completely unbeknownst to them.

YouTube says it doesn't know what's going on with this subscriber issues, but that seems to be just the tip of the iceberg here. PewDiePie also notes that YouTube is now giving recommended videos priority over videos from accounts viewers are subscribed to. At the end of it all, PewDiePie says that he doesn't like the fact that YouTube makes these changes without clearly expressing them to content creators. The video in which he explains his motivation for "deleting" his channel is below.

Even though it's clear that PewDiePie never had the intention of deleting his channel, he does seem justified in speaking out against the changes YouTube has been making. Whether or not he can get those points across to YouTube is another thing entirely. In any case, you can look forward to more content from PewDiePie in the future now that he's made it clear he won't be going away.