Felix Kjellberg, *cough* I mean Pewdiepie. Pewdiepie, aka statistically the world’s favorite foul mouth, barrel despising, 25-year-old Swedish Let’s Play gamer on YouTube. Felix currently holds the top spot on YouTube with enough subscribers to match the population of Malaysia, twice. Leading the consistent content creator community with 38 million subs strong and going and going and going, and impressively coining 300 million views within this past month alone.
Over the past 5 months, we have received much allusion and foreshadowing to the what the game’s premise will be. Staying true to his YouTube culture roots Felix has constantly reached out to his viewers for suggestions and recommendations on his freshman game with Quebec-based developers – Outerminds. The Canadian game developers seem to be fairly new and Pewdiepie’s new development ‘Pewdiepie: Legend of the Brofist’ is playing a part in building their repertoire.
We got our first real glimpse of the game on April 12th when Pewds uploaded the video below, titled ‘THE PEWDIEPIE GAME’. The video reveals the official title of the game, additional updates on its progress and some really cool early development gameplay.
Legend of the Brofist is an 8-bit retro game perfect for Gameboy’s but made for today’s smartphones, bizarrely surfacing nostalgic feels to kids like me who weren’t even born when 8-bits ruled the gaming aesthetic in the 90’s.
Pewdiepie: Legend of the Brofist from the title alone Legend of the Brofist is a hybrid of reference to his fan base, Felix’s end card, and the popular Legend of Zelda from it’s 8-bit roots. The game, featuring Pewdiepie himself – Adam Sandler style – as the protagonist and other interchangeable characters following them throughout it’s many levels defeating barrels (another inside joke) and possibly other potential antagonists.
Along his side is his longtime girlfriend Marzia, their two pugs Maya & Edgar, along with various other YouTubers (upon fan request) such as: CinnamonToastKen, Cryaotic, Jacksepticeye, and Markiplier are all featured on the game weaved within the levels of the many misadventures Pewdiepie will take on.
Although there are many similarities in visuals and music between Legend of the Brofist and the classic 8-bit LOZ, there stand to be simultaneous neon juxtapositions.
The culture of new media thrives off of the loyalty and inclusiveness of the fans/supporters/Bros therefore, with LotBF the involvement of the viewers from the beginning is a tremendous gap between Pewdiepie’s game and classics like Sonic the Hedgehog. Felix’s viewers are able to tweet Outerminds with their suggestions and even vote on the title of the game.
The fact that a simple tweet could have an impact on a culture-shaping game like this is nothing short of incredible. From the get-go, Felix stated that it is a game for his viewers by his viewers – #brosmakethegame – because in all honestly they made it all possible from the beginning.
Thanks for the amazing support! Your game PewDiePie: Legend of the Brofist is almost finished! #brosmakesagame #LOTB pic.twitter.com/N2RTncWvS6
— Outerminds (@Outerminds) August 20, 2015
YouTuber’s accrediting their fans for a large part of their success is a reoccurring theme on the platform, because it’s true. Regardless of the colossal views and record breaking subscribers count, what really puts Pewdiepie on top of the totem pole of YouTube lies within the connection and loyalty he has with his fans.
Legend of the Brofist is essentially an extension of what Felix and his fans have built on the platform and in all honestly I can’t wait.
On the other hand, where there is commendation there is condemnation. Due to the fact that the culture of consistent content creation on YouTube maintains to be such a foreign concept to many adults who may not be in touch with the concept of new media and its growing legitimacy. Many write off Pewdiepie’s new project as a ploy to make money, use his fans, or an attempt to infiltrate bigger waters that he may not be equipped for.
Regardless, Felix will be following in the footsteps of other famous Let’s Play gamer’s such as Tobuscus with Tobuscus: Adventures Wizards, CaptainSparklez with his expected Fortress Fury, along with vloggers turned gamers Dan Howell and Phil Lester‘s 7-Second Challenge app who have paved the way in a sense.
Felix definitely won’t be the first Youtuber to put out a game and definitely not the last, however his presence on Youtube accounts for an appropriate anticipation that once released the game will most likely have record-breaking downloads.
The most recent official update on the game from Pewdiepie was his July 15th upload in which he speaks more on the games progress and even showcases gameplay from the first level.
One of the updates concern the ambiguous release date for Legend of the Brofist. Previously anticipated for summer 2015, will be pushed back with hopes of making it available for both iOS and Android “at the end of August or September”. Although, he wants to make it available for his viewers as soon as possible he emphasises his concern in wanting to tie up all the knots and not sacrifice the quality of the app over time constraints.
Alluding to my spiel on the legitimacy of YouTubers and this growing trend of YouTuber produced games there’s a big possibility that this will replace the ‘Youtuber authors’ trend. It resurfaces the assumptions and issues of whether YouTubers are soliciting their viewers to support their ploys to drain their viewers purely for monetary gain.
Raising up the relevant question mark concerning Legend of the Brofist – will it be paid or free application? We can assume that because of the ability for in-game upgrades from Brocoins – similar to Sonic’s rings – that there is a high possibility for a free app.
All in all, along with other Bros, I am extremely excited to see more sneak peeks and hear more updates leading to the release of ‘Pewdiepie: Legend of the Brofist’.
For even more answers to your burning questions on the upcoming game, click here and here to watch the Q&A videos from Outerminds themselves.
Make sure to keep an eye out for Felix Kjellberg bio-based arcade game ‘Pewdiepie: Legend of the Brofist’ in both the App Store and Play Store this fall!
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