MatPat

Patrick first created a YouTube account under the name "MatthewPatrick13" in 2009. He uploaded numerous videos of his performances and auditions for musical theatre, including one where he sang "It Takes Two" from the musical Hairspray.

On April 18, 2011, he uploaded the first episode of Game Theory, discussing the relationship between reality and gaming in terms of science, math and culture. Inspired by the YouTube series Extra Credits episode "Tangential Learning", uploaded on March 23, 2011, he created Game Theory with the goal of creating "gaming's tangential learning experience" to show his abilities to companies that might watch his channel. He frequently uploads episodes covering Nintendo characters, as well as popular games such as Minecraft, Five Nights at Freddy's, Call of Duty and Pokémon, as well as numerous other games.[6][7] Early on in the show's history, MatPat was interviewed by Ronnie "Oni" Edwards, host of the Internet show Random Internet Encounters. After this meeting, Ronnie accepted MatPat's offer to be Game Theory's main editor, as well as hosting the show Digressing & Sidequesting, which focused on game design. Before this, MatPat was the sole editor of the show. The first episode of Game Theory that Ronnie edited was "How Much is Minecraft Diamond Armor Worth?"[8] He occasionally uploaded videos commenting on the gaming market, as well as on other matters that he deemed noteworthy.[9] He gained subscribers and his videos were being posted on the front pages of sites such as ScrewAttack and GameTrailers.

During its life, The Game Theorists has hosted numerous spin-offs and separate shows. Some of the shows are only partly on The Game Theorists and consist of more episodes on the creators' channels. The Game Theorists reached one million subscribers on December 17, 2013, and 10 million in 2018. Currently, The Game Theorists has 13.7 million subscribers and over 2.7 billion video views. The channel's most popular upload is a video titled "Can Gamers SURVIVE the Real Mirror's Edge? - Game Lab". The video currently has 61 million views and was posted on June 8, 2016, being the first episode of MatPat's series MatPat'S Game Lab. It features MatPat and several other popular gaming YouTubers attempting to complete parkour challenges in real life. MatPat also holds the YouTube record for the most money donated in a single charity livestream. The amount of money donated when he first claimed this record was $1.38 million, which edged out PewDiePie's highest by just a little bit. On Dec. 1, 2020, MatPat broke his own record by donating $3.3 million by the end of another charity live stream which aired that day, lasting a little over 10 hours. Both streams had many other popular YouTubers in it as well, with the biggest others in his first record-setting charity stream including Markiplier and TheOdd1sOut. Scott Cawthon, the creator of Five Nights at Freddy's, also had an appearance on the first stream. He created a new game called Freddy in Space 2 for the stream, and in it was $500 thousand of his own money that was up for charity. Although the gamers only found roughly $450k, Cawthon donated the whole $500 thousand. The stream was #1 on YouTube Trending for a full day (including while it was running) and even took over the YouTube Ad Banner on the home page of YouTube. The stream was just under ten hours long, a relatively short run time for this magnitude of a charity stream, with most running in excess of twelve hours and getting between $600 thousand and $1 million. The money raised was all donated to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and at its peak, there were over 100,000 people watching. The stream on Dec. 1, 2020 also consisted of many other popular YouTubers, including Markiplier, Mr. Beast and TheOdd1sOut among many others. The stream received over 14 million views on the day it aired and raised a total of just a little over $3 million, which exceeded the initial goal of $1 million for this stream. This stream also received sponsorship by YouTube Originals and State Farm, who both contributed significant donations as well. Additionally, many of the YouTubers on this stream, specifically Mark Rober, MrBeast, and ZHC, each promised to match donations up to $50 thousand, far exceeding expectations of MatPat and his wife. Even Jake from State Farm made an appearance on stage. Again, as in 2019, the stream took the youtube ad banner as its own for the duration of it. At its peak, the stream had roughly 320,000 people watching.[10]

On May 12, 2014, Patrick created a second channel called The Film Theorists where he debuted his second show, Film Theory. The first video was uploaded on June 2, 2015, focusing on the prophecy of the chosen ones in the Harry Potter film series.[11] Film Theory follows the same formula as Game Theory, but focuses on films and series as well as the film industry instead of gaming. Within a month of the first episode, The Film Theorists reached one million subscribers. Currently, The Film Theorists is at 9.38 million subscribers and 1.6+ billion views.[12]

On June 8, 2016, Patrick posted via his YouTube channel his new show, MatPat's Game Lab, on Google's paid subscription service, YouTube Premium. The show mainly focuses on placing video game players in real life scenarios mimicking scenarios that occur in video games, such as bomb defusing, parkour, and military training.[13][14][15]

Patrick with his wife Stephanie in 2018

Patrick started a Let's Play series called GTLive on August 26, 2015,[16] where he streams mostly gameplay with his wife Stephanie on the GTLive channel he created on September 14, 2015. Streams are usually conducted at 4 pm PST. Regular guest appearances on the streams include Jason, the producer of GTLive, the co-producer Chris, who became part of the streams after standing in for Jason during his wedding, the Patricks' cat Skip, also known as "CatPat," Peepachu, a cushion in the form of a yellow, rabbit-shaped Peep and a llama plushie, referred to as "Drama Llama". Repeated themes of this live stream include "Mario Maker Wednesday" (abbr. "MMW"), "Motion-Control Thursday" and "Scary Games Friday" (abbr. "TGISGF" for "Thank Goodness It's Scary Games Friday"), also occasionally known as "Spoopy Games Friday". A common feature is the 'clap-and-a-half' which Patrick reclaimed from his seventh grade Social Studies teacher. On one live stream, they used Verizon's in-game Minecraft smartphone for ordering pizza as well as taking "the worlds largest [in-game] selfie".[17]

Starting on October 3, 2016, the Monday streams became part of YouTube Gaming Primetime and are therefore scheduled for 3 pm to 5 pm PST. It also includes a voting mechanism, which can be used by Patrick to conduct quick polls.[18]

As of 2019, GTLive streams three days per week on average, garnering roughly 100,000 to 140,000 total viewers for each stream. The largest Live Stream gained roughly 170,000 viewers when it was live in mid 2019, and it was gameplay of one of the channel's most popular games, Kindergarten 2. Currently (2020), GTLive does not live stream and has instead uploaded unedited videos of roughly 40–70 minutes in duration 3-4 times a week. GTLive has since began streaming again every Friday, with Wednesday and Monday still the usually scheduled pre recorded video. However, due to the very long break from live streaming taken, their streams only average around 10,000-40,000 viewers at peak.

On April 3, 2017, Patrick announced that the show would go on a brief hiatus until April 25, 2017, due to VidCon Europe and scouting different filming locations.[19] Due to VidCon Australia, the show was again paused on September 4, 2017[20] and returned on September 26, 2017.[21]

Patrick was involved in the web series TOME: Terrain of Magical Expertise. He gained the series more attention and exposure by uploading a re-mastered version of the first episode on the channel on October 1, 2013, and then providing a platform for the series.[22][23] Patrick, as well as many of the Game Theorists members, also provided their likeness as opponents in the RPG video game adaption in the works. Patrick's character, Mattheorist, displays Green Lantern-like qualities with the ability to manifest green energy projectiles and creatures. Their fate in the final project remains undetermined as it's subject to change due to legal issues.[24]

In 2019, Patrick partnered with Nickelodeon to make the show Fact or Nicktion.[25] In this show Patrick examined various phenomena Nickelodeon shows, such as SpongeBob SquarePants, Avatar: The Last Airbender and Rugrats to determine whether they could or couldn't happen in real life. The show originally aired on the Nickelodeon Facebook account, but some episodes were later uploaded on the channel NickRewind.[26]

The third Theory channel, and fourth overall; The Food Theorists began releasing videos in July 2020. It came at the tail end of multiple cryptic teases on Patrick's Twitter account.[27] As the name suggests, The Food Theorists, using the same style as its predecessors, blends food science with psychology, physiology, and conspiracy. Theorist Media reports that the channel has been in the works for two years.[28] Videos that illustrate the direction of the channel include 'How to SURVIVE Spicy Food!'[29] and 'Chuck E Cheese Pizza, Should You Be Scared?';[30] the former conducting tests on how to mitigate capsaicin (inspired by the show Hot Ones) and the latter debunking the myth shared virally via social media that the pizza chain Chuck E. Cheese serves its uneaten pizza slices from previous customers to other ones. Currently, The Food Theorists has 2.22 Million Subscribers and 80 million views. It had reached 1 million subscribers exactly a week after launch, and had then gained another million over the succeeding 4 months.[31]