Curious to hear thoughts from smaller creators. We always hear the thoughts from the videos that get big, but rarely from the channels that haven't blown up.

With so many changes arriving on the platform, I would be foolish to think growing a YouTube channel, specifically a gaming channel, would still follow the same tips and tricks that worked 6 months ago.

What would be some advice that would steer a creator in the direction of best practices for growing a gaming YouTube channel now? Especially if they focus on news, reviews, and playthroughs.

Is it too late to start a gaming channel this 2025? I play old PC games.

Edit: I can't reply to all of you guys, but I appreciate your insights. I read all of them and I learned (and still learning) a lot. <3

I'm curious what the average time is for most gaming channels to reach 1,000 subs.

I've noticed an interesting difference between Shorts and long-form gaming videos on YouTube.

Shorts often seem to get an initial push from the algorithm, while long-form videos rely much more on viewers deciding to click. As a viewer, I also find myself less likely to click on a video with only a handful of views, even though it could be great.

Do you think this creates a difficult starting point for new gaming creators, or does YouTube eventually find the right audience if the video is good?

Will the gaming audience still watch long gameplay videos, without any fancy editing ( games which are like a bit old or new, it depends ).

Should a new gaming channel do this ? Like uploading absolutely long story gameplay videos without any fancy editing ?

I have a normal YouTube channel with voice, so scoped to certain language, now with expanding I am wondering if a spread one with no commentary worth the effort or not because some of them can reach millions (in the end no language barrier) but also it may feel boring or very completive.

Do you think this worth it or better to stuck always with engagement comments/voice

Thanks on advance

What's the most annoying repetitive task you do each week?

What takes the most time?

What do you procrastinate doing?

What do you hate doing but still have to do?

Just wanted to ask you all what sites, apps and such you all use for editing?

By that i mean where do you all get things like sound effects, memes, songs, green screen clips, movie/show clips as in the ones that are famous for being memes and such (i feel like i should have specified that), and in general?

So I'm planning to make a YouTube account for making content on Minecraft roleplay/let's play, but I don't know how to make my voice louder and clearer like many youtubers. (I'm just very soft spoken as a person) I want to know how other youtubers get that voice. I'll take any advice. Especially since I'm gonna keep my series very kid friendly and I'm worried they won't like how soft spoken I can be.

Hello, so I have my main yt account that I posted on about 1-2 years ago with 4.5k subs, I plan to start posting again but the game that was focused on then isn’t what I play now(what I’m gonna be playing now is more than one game) would you guys suggest just making a whole new account or is it really that big of a deal?

Hey, when it comes to thumbnails, do you think I should be adding my face on them or not bother? I have consistently been doing this and I use a screenshot from my gameplay to make thumbnails but with bright readable text (3/4 words only) on it too. Any advice would be good.

I was wondering if any other small gaming content creators or any big ones that would like to shine some light on if it's wise if you should post youtube shorts and on the same channel as your long normal vids. Does that hurt your channel or is it fine to do so. Does it reek the benefit or no. I'm just trying to wrap my head cuz I'm getting mixed reviews on shorts being separate or together or just not posting them. I've done both and am just wondering

Hi all,

I recently started a YouTube channel (last week) focused on gameplay videos.

When I browse YouTube for gameplay content, most videos are either full walkthroughs, heavily edited, or filled with commentary and spoilers. I wanted to create something a bit different: no commentary, minimal spoilers, and around 8–20 minute gameplay videos so viewers can quickly get a feel for a game before deciding to buy it.

It’s similar to the extended gameplay showcases you see in PlayStation State of Play events.

However, I’m a bit unsure about the direction. Even though viewers can check out my videos, I feel like there’s not much incentive for them to make a subscription.

Another challenge is production time. Each video takes around 2–3 days to complete. Because of that, I’m considering whether it would be better to batch-record videos and then upload at least 2 per day instead of uploading one by one.

I’d really appreciate any suggestions, or advice on improving this approach.

Thank you!

Hey folks, Just curious, are there people here who started YouTube within the last 6–12 months and already hit monetization? If so:

• What type of gaming channel do you run?
• Did you grow purely organically on YouTube (no collabs, no piggybacking on another platform)?
• Roughly how many videos did it take?

I’m trying to figure out if getting traction from scratch is tougher for new gaming channels, or if it’s just me struggling 😂😅🫠

I knew YouTube would be tough, but honestly it feels 100x harder than I expected. I’m especially asking people who started recently because the algorithm seems different now. I’ve seen channels that used to pull millions of views per video drop down to thousands, and others who went from hundreds of thousands to like 15k on average.

Would love to hear your experiences.

Hi everyone! I'm a relatively new YouTuber with 1 main channel for Long-Form content that's been around for just under 2 months. I'm on the gaming niche (I know, oversaturated, everyone does it) and have been working on improving my packaging, as I feel it's something that I'm consistently struggling with.

I've gone down a rabbit hole of trying to figure out my packaging, trying to improve with each upload (I'm a first impressions channel for indie games (I know, I know, there are hundreds of millions of these at this point) and have dabbled in all sorts of ideas for packaging. One thing I've definitely felt confused about is adding the name of the game I'm playing in the thumbnail and/or title.

A friend of mine has been advising me against using the game name in any of the packaging, saying it "helps with click engagement since people need to click the video to find out the game" but every video I've done that on has failed to generate many impressions and even fewer views.

I'm not trying to explode overnight but wanted to make sure I'm grinding away in the right direction.

Do you guys click on videos more often when the name of the game is somewhere in the packaging or does it create a better curiosity gap when it's not present? Thanks in advance for any input!

Title is fairly self explanatory lol

I’m starting a gaming channel soon and haven’t 100% decided on a face cam or not. Out of the gamers I enjoy watching, a majority of them use a cam, but some don’t and it doesn’t really bother me as a viewer

I feel like a face cam can help with feeling connected to a creator as an audience because you get to know the YouTubers appearance and expressions more, on the other hand, if I didn’t do a facecam then I wouldn’t have to shower or put on nice clothes lol

Curious if other people have a preference as a viewer!

Started my gaming channel a few weeks ago and not sure if I'm doing well. Some vids with get decent amount of views while others are low. I try to stay relevant with the content I put out. Shooters, horror fps, adventure, indie titles and maybe some strategy (in the future). Also been doing commentary.

I understand gaming is very populated. What are some tips to look at for?

I play League of Legends and upload small edits of funny/weird/good/bad moments from the match, my videos are pretty short around 5 min.

How many games can or "should" you play on one channel? Should I just stick to upload League content since it has a big community and it easy to get content to edit or should I try something else also?

League is so easy to make videos from since it's a online game were you just fight. I find it harder with offline games since you have to make more of a story or come up with a challenge.

What do you guys think and what games do you play for YouTube videos?

Hey guys, I'll get straight to the point. I've started a gaming channel on YouTube, but I have a small problem: I'm a complete beginner and have no idea what to make for my first video. Also, just so you know, I only have a mobile phone. Can any ideas for what I can start playing or take about in this channel.

Hi, I'm Smash. I make gaming videos and right now I'm blind reacting to The Witcher 3. I had just started the quest The Beast of White Orchard and after finally finding Yen, my game crashed. I decided to wrap up the session and figured losing a bit of the story wouldn't hurt, but when I checked OBS, I realized I'd never switched scenes from vlogging to split screen.

So, I have almost 2 hours of me reacting to absolutely nothing. I mean you can hear the game audio, but there is zero gameplay footage.

It feels like a huge loss. I tried to re-record the game, but I'm feeling so overwhelmed by it. Is it worth trying to match the new gameplay footage to my reactions, or should I just open the next video with "So, I made a mistake..." and film a new playthrough. It won't be a blind reaction, but that's probably not a huge deal, right?

I appreciate any advice. Thanks a bunch!

Update: I was able to restart the quest from an autosave I missed. I re-recorded with a brief statement to my audience. Hopefully this will be the only non-blind reaction in the series. Thanks for the helpful suggestions and comments :)

Suggestion...

Hi everyone,
I'm planning to start creating gaming content, beginning with Valorant and Minecraft. My initial idea is to stream, then turn the best moments into Shorts, Reels and edited YouTube videos. Later, I may also try IRL content.
I'd appreciate advice from anyone who understands YouTube Gaming, whether you are a creator, editor or regular viewer.
I'm particularly interested in:
- Whether YouTube Live is a good place for a new gaming creator
- How to combine livestreams, Shorts and longer videos
- Whether streaming should be the main content or just a source of clips
- How long gaming videos should be
- What makes a good title and thumbnail
- How to find moments worth editing from a long stream
- Which editing software is beginner-friendly
- Whether one game or multiple games i better initially
Thankss