Kenny Sun wanted to make games for a living, but in the weeks after graduating college, quietly resigned himself to accepting a boring programming job, something to help pay the bills. Then, he noticed a huge spike in traffic on his website. Thatâs what happens with a PewDiePie video.
Everyone has an opinion about YouTubeâs biggest personality, but thereâs no denying a person with 38 million subscribers has incredible reach. Though PewDiePieâs videos are hardly gaming exclusive these daysâwant to learn how to swear in Swedish?âheâs still best known for playing and reacting (loudly) to video games.
Occasionally, heâll decide to ditch the mainstream and highlight some offbeat indie games.
âTRIPPIEST GAME EVER?â has nearly four million views, and highlights three different games: Wrassling, Infinideer, and Circa Infinity
Sun made the last game, Circa Infinity. The 22-year-old started on the mind-bending platformer last December, a project made in tandem with his final slate of classes at New York University. Though he specialized in programming, Sun took a few game design courses, as well.
Having trouble following whatâs going on? Basically, you can run around the edges of a circle, and by hopping into the floating orb, you go a layer deeper. It becomes distractingly hypnotic.
Like most people on the Internet, Sun knew who PewDiePie was, but didnât religiously follow his work, so a full day went by before realizing the YouTube sensation decided to play his game. What tipped him off was his website going into overdrive, as people came looking for his game.
âFor a full day, I had no idea where this huge spike of traffic was coming from,â he said. âI tried to find out where it was coming from, but it was all from Google searches. [laughs]â
He eventually searched Twitter for âCirca Infinityâ and found people chatting about the video.
Prior to this, Circa Infinity had stalled. The game managed to generate a few positive articles, but it wasnât doing anything for Circa Infinityâs Greenlight campaign. Few votes were trickling in, and it wasnât clear it would ever make it onto Steamâs service. Sun wasnât really comfortable with anyone playing Circa Infinity yet, but he decided to release a demo and hope for the best.
âI released a demo as an act of desperation,â he said.
People tend to dislike PewDiePie because his reactions are meant to be entertaining, not insightful. He yells a lot. There are weird noises. But when he started playing Circa Infinity, PewDiePie stopped talking. Several moments in the video make fun of his extended silence.
(If you click on the video, itâll start around the time where one of these funny edits kicks in.)
âI would have been happy if he totally trashed it,â he said. âIt would have been awesome. [laughs] It was the last game [in the video]. I was watching the other games he was playing and I was just getting really excited to see what he would sayâgood or bad.â
Itâs unclear how PewDiePie came across the game, but heâs previously plucked free games from the App Store and websites like itch.io, which makes it super easy for designers to share games online. Maybe it had something to do with the gameâs trippy luck, maybe it was sheer chance.
While it may feel weird to talk about a guy uploading videos to YouTube in hushed, mythic tones, PewDiePieâs influence is undeniable. All the other students at NYU were jealous. (âEveryone wants to be featured by PewDiePie.â) Google searches brought tons of people to Circa Infinityâs Greenlight page, and within a week, the game was approved for Steam.
Boom
âItâd still probably be in the [Greenlight] process right now, if it werenât for the video,â he said.
Whatâs amazing is Circa Infinity isnât mentioned in the video description. Likely by accident, PewDiePie didnât include a link, and the gameâs logo is only present for a few, precious seconds. The thousands who tracked down Circa Infinity did so because they really, really wanted to.
People emailed Sun, looking for ways to buy the soundtrack or the full game. (Itâs not done yet.) One person even wanted to send him money as a thank you, but he decided to turn them down.
Whatâs more, the video radically changed Sunâs ideas about that job he was supposed to take.
âIt was a really inspiring moment when he played my game,â he said. â [âŠ] Iâm seriously considering leaving this job that I havenât started yet and trying to make games for a living.â
All because of a video on YouTube.
âThe video was a turning point in my future, pretty much,â he said.
You can reach the author of this post at [email protected] or on Twitter at @patrickklepek
