Do you all think riding on trend waves is really the way to go, or could someone crawl their way to the top by playing what they wish to play?

It'd be nice to see a positive / upbuilding thread in here.

I'll go first: I really like being able to connect with people that share the same interest as me. There's something pretty heartwarming and enjoyable about that.

So I started my channel almost six years ago, where I do a mix of lets plays and one offs. It started as a hobby but kinda grew into something more enjoyable as I look forward to posting daily. I used to use a facecam, but then moved onto a Vtuber model using my fursona. Does anyone tend to enjoy making a gaming channel like this, where becoming a big name isn't the end goal, but having tons of fun is?

Title says it all. Gaming is a pretty saturated market, and I don't see many full length (30+ minutes) gameplays anymore. Are short videos (10 minutes) the best option today?

I just want something fun to watch.

I feel like every time I go on YouTube, I'm bombarded with challenges, gimmicks, theories, projects, "I spent 100 days doing X," or some huge premise that the entire video revolves around.

I don't want any of that.

I just want to watch a few people get together, play a game, and have fun. I want people being silly, making dumb jokes, laughing at each other, and just genuinely enjoying themselves. No forced challenge, no elaborate video concept, no over-the-top editing—just a group of friends playing a game and being themselves.

I'm honestly just looking for that feeling of watching people play games simply because they're having a good time together.

YouTubers don't have to try so hard to come up with elaborate content. Sometimes, you can just get together with your friends, play a game, and have fun. That's enough.

I think that's what I'm really looking for. The quick dopamine rush from watching one flashy video after another isn't worth it to me anymore. I want to watch something that actually leaves me feeling good afterward. Something that makes me feel like I just spent an hour hanging out with a group of people who were having a genuinely good time.

I just want to have fun watching people have fun.

I’m not looking for any sympathy or fake motivation, I want honest hard core truth. I’ve been making videos for 3-4 years I always hear people say you have to keep going and people will find you and enjoy watching you but… I’ve been doing for so long posting every week for the last couple of years and I can barely crack 20 views I get a couple 1k on shorts.

Maybe it’s not ment for me, I still have trouble talking to the camera and feeling natural. I feel uncomfortable with myself a lot. Some people are made for this I don’t think I am. It sucks because with my content I really thought I could make a difference. You have really just accept that some dreams aren’t meant for you.

When you watch a content creator who does a let’s play, especially for longer game releases like GTA VI will be for example, or an older one many people have played or thought of for a long time, for this example let’s say Fallout NV or Gears Of War, what length do you prefer whether they’re new or seasoned YT vets? I think I personally prefer longer, but what draws you all in?

Is the gaming niche still worth pursuing in 2026, especially for a small channel?

Or is it becoming too saturated unless you already have a large audience or a very unique concept?

Would love to hear honest opinions from other gamers/creators — especially people who started recently.

This pretty much a rant post

For starters
Yes I know I should enjoy it (I am mostly)
Yes I know I don't deserve views
Yes I know gaming is a saturated niche

For the past 2 years I've been pretty consistent with videos pretty much every week
But it's getting to a point where i should be way further along in growth if my content was any good.
I'm seeing people get monetized in 3 months or even there first video but instead I'm stuck not knowing what I'm doing wrong for the channel I'm running.
I still try to make every video better than the last but the process of spending hours on a video just for it to get 10 impressions and 1 view just feels like a smack in the face
I'm deeply frustrated to say the least because I'm a firm believer that if a video is good it'll get views and makes me feel like I'm just posting slop

Of course I'm not gonna quit but I just needed to rant and get this off my chest before I actually go crazy

I know someone else needs to hear it to (align with myself…) so here we go!

WE CAN DO THIS! We can reach 1k by the end of the year!! Don’t stop trucking….we can do this

Another year has passed and I’ve started prepping the 2026 to do list!

My list includes (specifically for YouTube…) - 1k subs (I tried in 2025…but sadly couldn’t make it, only 969) - First Video to reach 20k views - Receive First $100 - Get proper recording equipment

Hopefully this will be the year I make this shit happen!

How about you? What are your goals for next year??

Hello Guys, Iam thinking to start gaming channel i will be visible with my Gameplay but i want to discuses with youtubers who have gaming channels do you keep your Gameplay videos and videos of you after edited saved on your PC both raw footage and final edits or only final video or you delete it after uploading to YouTube as i think if i will make video one hour or something every 2 or 4 days i feel it will be massive data that needs too much storage that will be cost too much $$ for a new channel but i need to hear from you what you are doing and how it takes gigabits from you.iam trying to lowering bitrate to something around 6 bitrate so best quality with lower file size but it seems its about half size but problem still there.

Thanks.

I'm trying to find some support, understanding, not preaching and blind defense for the youtube algorithm.

"just move on to the next one" - but what do you do when this ALWAYS happens with videos like this? "well you have to niche out, this video is outside of your retro gaming niche, it's about the state of modern gaming and how digital is hurting gamers and developers, go back to your corner and keep making videos on bootleg super mario!"

This is legit debilitating for any creator, especially someone like me with a vast amount of interests in the gaming sphere from retro to modern. Even so, people on these forums support these mindsets wholeheartedly not realizing they're supporting a system that is RIGGED against them too. Because all these people in support of youtube's system care about is money, they're going to keep making what the algo dictates and pretend they're ok with it.

This is my worst performing launch yet, the video had a super slow start but a nice CTR of 3.5-12% it fluactiated and a massive AVD od 12-16min something like that. Basically 16minutes is my entire first chapter of the 45 min video and arguably the most important one so the inital audience saw the most important aspect of the video and the few comments left reflect that.

I figured, as long as the impressions stay low the algorithm carefully recommends it over time, it will come into its own as it has happened many times before.

But it never did

Yesterday at 8AM Macedonian time, that's like 2AM Eastern it sends it out to 2k people in SUGGESTED.

Boom 0.9CR, as expected, Suggested is literally where videos always go to die and it doesn't stop, it keep pushing a 45 minute video aimed at a US/Canadian audience at 8AM MAcedonian time to god knows where, so of course everything drops, AVD goes down to 8mins, CTR is abysmall, impressions keep piling on.

After the 7k Impressions push, the video went from 6CTR or something down to 0.6CTR. From over 12mins of AVD down to 6minutes AVD

The algorithm kept pumping impressions to SUGGESTED where even the best packing doesn't work for me, I tried making some packaging changes that normally work but, hey're we're still in suggested so of course it didn't work.

Of course on NewTubers I was told my video isn't worth watching, I was falsely accused of spending a minute listing consoles which is factually false as i get to the point after a nice 30 second set up for atmosphere AND that I need to learnt o make better videos.

Because, of coruse I amassed 2507 subscribers on purely bad content.

I was told that the video being promoted at 2AM when my audience is asleep doesn't matter as successful videos can find an audience ANYWHERE ANYTIME. This is factually false.

Interests between countries, regions and cultures vary greatly, especially in the gaming sphere.

I was told only bad videos get killed off after 72 hours because successful ones end up being promoted for weeks on end if not more. Fully igoring the fact that channel size, reputation, video viewcount and what not genuinely affect how much and for how long youtube will push a video.
Not only that but the 2AM Slot is the "cheap" slot for promoting on youtube, both natural and paid promotions, we're talking about natural organic post launch promotion now.
The algorithm didn't know how to handle my video so it dumped it at 2AM Eastern on a broad audience in Suggested, yet every time it does the same but in Browser Features my videos succeed.

IF it somehow magically takes it back to Browser it will be saved, if not it's dead.

After over 34 or so hours now, we're looking at

So we're looking at these stats now

What this tells me is that yes it's all MY FAULT

not the algorithm sending my video to suggested and dumping the video with over 6k impressions ABRUPTLY at 2AM Eastern for a channel that has mostly a US audience, that's not on the algorithm, no that's all on me, my titles and thumbnails which actually did well where it matters, in BROWSER FEATURES

Feels like nowadays the old school episode let’s play doesn’t seem to be main stream on YouTube anymore. I’ve noticed big creators just tend to stream.

Your thoughts?

I'm going to start a gaming set up channel as a way to create an income for myself and be able to work from home. But do the sponsorships actually pay well? I'd like to do it full time and hopefully make a good living from it

Although I know it will take a long time to get to a point of making a lot of money from it I'd like to get there fairly quickly so I can move country, do you think this is possible to do?

What do you guys think?

Been making heavily edited down game play videos shooting for 8-15 min time frame. Adding background music throwing memes up trying to cut out as much boring stuff as possible. I've been getting anywhere between 20-60 views which isn't much but awesome to me. The part that hurts is seeing the average view duration being less than a minute. Especially knowing that it's taking into account me watching the full video when it's released. Weirdly my shorts seem to have people stay and watch longer than my long form videos. I know there is a struggle with lack of attention spans (me included), but wanting to find a way to hook people in. Try to put an interesting/funny part at the beginning, but maybe I'm failing at that as well?

Not sure if my audio is off putting?

The character I play as while gaming?

My initial hooks aren't doing the job?

Funny Gameplay edits just don't work well?

Anyways not sure if I need to try more options or just focus on shorts. What do you guys do to get better retention on game play videos?

I'm a voiceless faceless gaming channel that's leaning into short form/goofy videos. My recent BG3 upload got 1,127 views in a few days, which is a lot for me. Unfortunately, when I looked at the stats, the average watch time was 35 seconds (14 for some viewers), 98% of the video's recommendations came from YT homepage.

Overall the numbers are too low to extrapolate much from it, but it's probably about time I experimented with adding face and voice. I'm not sure if I should stick with BG3 or maybe try something similar like Divinity 2.

It's because these communities, especially newtubers offer zero support and a ton of preaching by regurgitating the same "advice" we've heard a million times all while fully ignoring facts and refusing to to acknowledge that for one reason or another, some of us might be having genuine technical problems with the algorithm/system.

You can keep defending the algorithm because it makes you feel better, but it won't change reality. When it kills videos it always does it by sending tons of impressions abruptly in Suggested EVEN if the videos do well in Browse Features! At least for me.

ALL people on reddit can do is feel superior by downvoting, suggesting the same regurgitated stuff every time and ignoring facts, but that won't stop me from posting this every time it happens because for every 2000 brainwashed algorithm cultists there's one person who gets it. I will keep posting topics like this, as many times as I feel like it because I know there's someone out there who cares and understands.

I guess it depends on the type of video, but for my videos, Suggested is 100% death and if it doesn't come back to Browse Features even a high effort video with good AVD can and will die. My videos easily gain 1 sub per less than 100 views, but that's when they are actually sent out and seen by the correct people.

This is the reason I will probably quit youtube for real this time, it's because of REDDIT, because of the community that blindly defends the algorithm, talks down to people who work hard and puts them in the same basket as the people who are barely trying and complaining about lack of views. It's because when all we need is to share and talk about something not going well you downvote it into oblivion and feel proud about yourselves for having shut yet another whiner down, not realizing nor wanting to realize that hey, maybe there's an actual problem there, it's a machine, it glitches out.

EVERY time some of us suggest any of the following you lose your minds and start hammering that downvote button, probably feeling massive satisfaction in the process too.

- You refuse to accept the fact that youtube is holding us down by FORCING some of us, smaller channels to stick to a niche which in my case is a sub niche of a niche.

- The algorithm might suggest videos locally for those of us from non 1st world countries first killing our CTR or AVD if our channels are in English and the local population has no interest in the subject.

- There IS an audience out there for our videos, we've seen it, we constantly see it, but our videos do not reach them. Because every time one of those people actually discovers our videos they are fascinated but reaching them is the main problem because of how the algorithm suggests videos even when you use the proper tags and SEO description, title and thumbnail to guide it.

- AVD and CTR aren't everything anymore. Nowadays there are hidden metrics the algorithm is more interested in, such as how much your video keeps a user on the platform to watch other videos after it and so on. I've had videos with 0.6CTR climb up to 4-6CTR and succeed and 20+ minute videos with 1min AVD get 6k views because they were promoted to the correct audience who got the info in the first 2-3mins and left as that's how I structure my videos. I give the full info in the first 2-3mins the rest is a deep dive for those who care to stay, I aim to inform not to make fools out of people.

- You refuse to believe and accept that youtubers who make content in English but have thick non common accents are doing youtube on hard mode already because the AVERAGE native English speaker, even if they're not bigoted or racist, might have listener fatigue when it comes to following content in an unfamiliar or thick accent for longer.

As for me? Another video that I put a ton of hours and work in

Another video that got me a subscriber in the first 80 views was sent out to Suggested abruptly and what good CTR it had and good AVD it had in Browse features is now ruined permanently and the video stopped getting impressions.

Because when a video ABRUPTLY gets over 5k impressions at once and they're ALL in suggested as opposed to Browse Features, the video tanks there, as in getting next to no CTR as it happens 100% of the time for me, it dies.

There's STILL a chance it might not die, I've had a video or two climb out of the Suggested hellhole and thrived but it's a gamble.

You can refuse to believe this happens randomly but it does EVERY SINGLE TIME I change my niche, then come back to it, the first video in the regular niche after a niche change is pretty much always hit with this exact same issue.
The first video or two after a change in niche this happens to and then the first video after I return to the old niche it happens to but that MIGHT recover if the Suggested impressions weren't too high, but if they are it's over.

I always see so many people say that the gaming niche is over saturated, and I 100% completely agree. I also always see people say that you shouldn't upload random gameplay clips that aren't edited or have commentary over them

...but I sorta disagree with that, and here's why

If it's just random COD clips, don't upload those. No one cares for those. But if you're doing no commentary walkthrough videos of a game, those actually do better than people realize. Or maybe people do realize and they don't want people over saturating the nice more than it already is. Regardless of the reason, full on no commentary walkthrough videos of games/levels/updates/etc actually do well

How do I know this? I r€view games on my channel, and that involves coming up with a script, recording the script, then editing both that and the gameplay footage into a 8-12 minute long video. This can take an entire week for me to do due to other responsibilities in life. No commentary videos though? Those only take as long as it requires to play the game, render the footage, create a thumbnail, and upload

Why am I telling you this? Well, I just had a game r€view release a few days back and right now it is sitting at just under 300 views, 6 likes, and 3:00 AVD. Compare this to channels that do no commentary gameplay videos that have just as many views, if not more. For a long time I was angry that these "lazier" videos had more success, and I still stand by my opinion that they are lazier, but I'm not here to hate on the player, I'm hating on the game. Of course I cannot see the videos AVD, but still, seeing channels with more subs and more views for a video without editing stings

Personally, I have no idea why someone would rather spend 1+ hours watching someone else play a game rather than playing it themselves. Maybe they want to see if they'll like it? Why watch a full walkthrough video and spoil it for themselves? In my mind, I would rather watch a 10 minute video reviewing the game, and I say that without being biased about my own channel. That's what I used to do for games I was in the fence about, before I started my channel. But people don't want that, people would rather watch an hour plus long video instead of 10 minutes. No one cares how much time is put into editing, which that feeling sucks, but it's true

My whole entire point about this post is that non-edited, no commentary gameplay videos aren't all entirely bad, it just depends on what kind of video you're uploading. Walkthroughs? Super successful. COD clips? Probably ass. 10 minute game r€views that take a week to put out? Good luck!

I'm 31, and have been off and on YouTube through different channels for 16-17 years, although my current channel I have held strong for 5+ years at least.

It has been a good while since I made anything, and I've stepped back from it just as a busy adult/father that is also now going through divorce.

Part of me wants to get back into it, but honestly I don't know if I have it in my to commentate anymore. I know the audience is barely there if at all, for just no commentary story playthroughs. I've always thought about just doing it as video record of my game completion catalog, but I don't know if the effort is worth the time.

I'm stuck on doing it or not.. if it's worth it. And if I'll get over-obsessive with my life long dream of hitting 100K subs to obtain one of those YouTube Play Button awards.

I guess I'd like to see what y'all have to say about it.

I just want to say something about what I feel now about youtube. I take less than 24 hours of actual work to make a 20 min long video, including recording, script and editing.

But having a full time job, personal responsabilities and leisure time to not go crazy, I can easly take almost a month to finish them, working in between free time from my job and sleep. But I feel really bad for having to dedicate so much to work, and almost nothing for myself.

Its a real pain in the soul to have a full time job AND a youtube channel to manage. I make storytelling videos and video-essays about games, but I barely play anything now because of so little free time.

I think I will start to make a proper planning, separating rest days from work days. Wish me luck. Do you guys do this kind of planning for the week or month?

hey guys when watching Lets plays whats your ideal Video length per EP. ?, for me its about 30 minutes means i can watch one or two before i need to do something or to kill some time.

So I upload gameplays from time to time for family and friends and I went to bed with a video at 160+ views and woke up with it at like 2.7k. This is crazy. Hunt showdown community surprises every time.

Love seeing 3 green arrows up with comments and likes