matthewmatosis
patreon
Change of Employment
🕑 Added 2015-10-30 19:26:12 +0000 UTCHi All,
I tend not to talk about my personal life much but this news seems pertinent. I've decided to leave my day job and try my hand at this video stuff full time. I figure this is the kind of thing you should know beforehand so I’ve taken some time to lay it out.
Why?
First of all we're nearing the point where youtube earnings + patreon donations = enough for me to subsist on. Also if I’m not tied to my current job I might be able to move somewhere else, it seems pretty much anywhere would be less expensive than living in Dublin. We're not quite at the point where I could sustain myself indefinitely yet but I'd say we're close enough and I won't be leaving my job for a few months. There's still some stuff I want to finish up there and I want to make the transition nice and smooth for them. It's probably best not to burn any bridges when you're heading into the unstable economy of video game analysis videos.
Secondly I've been getting a bit frustrated recently. By day I'm a software developer, it's a cushy enough job but when I get home from work I'm usually pretty tired mentally. On a weekday I'm lucky if I can get a few good hours of work done on videos, most of the works happens on weekends. This isn't so bad in and of itself but it leaves me with very little free time which has started to become a problem, even just when it comes to videos. I like to be thorough and part of that is exploring games other than the ones I hope to review. For example should I review a game in a certain genre if I have no idea what state the genre is currently in? Should I review something by a certain developer if I haven't played at least some of their earlier titles? Should I review a game if it's inspired by a game I've never played? For me, the answer to all these questions is no. I think it’s easy to be overly critical or overly positive about a game if you haven't done your research on other relevant games and I hope not to fall into that trap. My point is it takes a lot of time to be thorough and it's frustrating to me that I don't seem to have that time. I can't shake the feeling that I'm falling further behind as time goes by and I want to rectify that by spending more time just sitting down and playing some games. I still have a lot of old titles to catch up on and a lot to learn. I only just started playing GTAV the other week and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Lastly this is just the direction I’d like my life to go and it seems now it’ll be possible to make it work. I’ve always wanted to make a living doing something games related. As long as it keeps a roof over my head I’ll choose games over whatever other alternatives I have.
What happens now?
Nothing really. I’m assuming most of you are pretty happy with the way I do things at the moment so I plan to keep things the same as they ever have been. I’m hopeful with the extra time I have I’ll be able to produce more videos but I’m not going to take any shortcuts. I know that one of the main draws of my videos is quality over quantity and I’d like to preserve that.
For the sake of clarity I’ll lay it all out.
All of my content will continue to be available for everyone without any paywalls.
I won’t give preferential treatment to any of my supporters.
I’ll continue to reject free copies of games from developers/publishers.
I won’t accept any other freebies or invitations to events either.
I won’t produce an excessive amount of videos just because this is my livelihood now.
I won’t do any sponsored content of any kind.
I plan to continue sitting aside from the games industry rather than trying to be a part of it for as long as I’m making videos. Since I tend to review games long after their release I’ve never had to make nice with publishers/developers anyway.
Anything else?
I want to take this opportunity to say thanks to those of you who have donated to me over the last couple of years. It’s because of you that I’ve been able to make this decision. This is something I’ve wanted ever since I was about 4 years old staring at those massive pixels on a tiny TV so I don’t think it’s hyperbole to say that you’ve made a dream come true.
Even if this all comes crashing back to reality a year from now and I have to go ask for my old job back I’m happy just to have had the chance.
If you have any questions or concerns about this just let me know here or on Twitter. It's not too late for me to reverse this decision should enough of you yell at me about it.
- Matthew
Comments
You're an inspiration! keep doing what you're doing. Thanks for the great content.
Yay! follow you dreams!
Sean
Good luck, Matt! We'll be here =)
Sounds good, looking forward to your future projects.
CosmicKirby
Hiya Matt. I first started watching your videos when I saw that you were critical of Bioshock Infinite in a way that I felt was similar to myself. I had gone back and watched all of your work (several times by this point) about a month after that. And as soon as I had found out that you had a Patreon as a tip-jar back in October, I decided to pitch in. I'm just saying this upfront to try and be clear that I think the content you have created since and before I started watching your work has been consistently impressive. I have said something similar in the comments on your Super Mario Galaxy review; I think a very large part of what makes your videos insightful and enjoyable is your very genuine and earnest impressions, combined with your reflective nature on your criticisms and analysis. I feel that the best person to determine what would make your videos, 'better' by any means would be yourself. You clearly have the talent enough to recognize a good idea, concept, or criticism when you're aware of it regardless of its source, and I don't think giving any special heed to a particular person because they happen to be paying you more would help matters. All of this being a rather long winded manner of saying; I greatly enjoy your reviews, and look forward to more. I hope that this move is the best for you financially, better for the quality of your videos, as well as for your own enjoyment in making them.
You should put your patreon at the end of your video. I know it feels gross, but it would really help you get the funds you need to do this full time. After all, if people don't want to donate, they just won't!
Thanks for all the fantastic content, Matt. I really appreciate the knowledgeable and in-depth but down to earth perspective you offer, as well as the occasional well-utilized humor (DRAGON FRIENDS). Happy to support my favorite youtube critic in a small way, and I wish you the best of luck in making a go of this full-time. Looking forward to your future work!
RecursiveFault
I'm a *bit* late to the party here, but I really hope this works for you! I'll keep supporting my favorite youtube channel.
ChaseFace
Good luck, Matt. A few small remarks on your outline above. 1.) If your workload gets too intense and you find yourself devoid of any free time, you could always hire an editor and pay him per video. Your video format is likely very easy when laid out on a timeline, as your cuts are infrequent, allowing for a very laissez-faire editing style. I'm a big control freak with my footage and I want very specific clips to punctuate very specific bits of narration, so hiring an editor is less of an option for me as it is for you. 2.) I feel the same way about not being up-to-date on certain media and trying to form an opinion on it. I don't think you have much room to worry since your videos are thoroughly researched and you always give disclaimers when you're speculating or even slightly talking out of your ass, so you seem qualified to speak as a generally informed authority on most video game details. I've thought about doing content on the original NES Final Fantasy, but I know it was based on the early Dragon Quest games that I've never played, and I know they're an archaic drag to play through, let alone capture and edit. Here's looking forward to more quality stuff from you, man.
Yammerss
You'll have my support either way. Good luck!
Congrats!
Miranda
I'm really happy to hear that you're able to do this. I can't think of a single other person who does game reviews as well as you, and the fact that you can make a living of it is awesome. There are a ton of games I'd love to hear your thoughts on still, but I know that whatever you choose to look at next it will be worth my time. I wish you luck, sir
Tatsuo
Glad to hear this! Love your work and hope to see more.
RamblePak64
Glad to hear this, man. You and MrBTongue are of the quality that I feel deserve to be able to do this sort of thing for a living, so it's nice to know one of you is capable of making the leap. I look forward to seeing what sort of content you manage to push through.
OversteTime
Good luck Mr Matosis, I hope it works out for you.
Matthewmatosis
I'm glad you think so but I reckon there's still a lot of work for me to do and I'm always looking to improve. I absolutely will fall back to other options if I can't keep this up though, don't worry about that.
Matthewmatosis
Thanks, I appreciate it.
Matthewmatosis
If I can't support it I'll just go back to work. I don't think I'll have any trouble finding somewhere.
Matthewmatosis
Thanks.
Good luck.
Bruno B
Big decision, I don't know if I'd have the balls to do it, the online video market seems very fleeting and as far as I know ad revenues are dwindling more and more thanks to adblock and the likes. I'd suggest at least to find some other revenue streams to keep urself afloat, one simple thing would be to make an Amazon affiliation and ask your supporters to buy their Amazon stuff through your sponsored link, you'd have no obligations to Amazon nor you'd have to push people to buy certain stuff, I've used this to sustain my (very little) podcast and it has worked quite well so far.
Zach Fleeman
Good luck! I'm glad that you feel comfortable taking this next step. You'll always have my support.
Enter on Patreon apparently posts your comment immediately... But ye, either way, if this ever becomes unsustainable, don't be afraid to fall back, you've contributed a lot more to game analysis as a whole already than most critics do in their entire career, you're leaving a fine mark as is.
Wow, this is quite the news. The depths you go to make your reviews more wholesome of the subject matter are a huge part of what makes them so interesting to me, so I'm glad you're willing to emphasize that to this extent.
