Some YT advice for small/new creators in the Let's Play/gaming space

Don't worry so much about "being early" with your Part 1 or your ending video of a hyped new game. Rushing out new playthroughs was something that worked 8 years ago, but it hasn't been worth it in recent years

If you do facecam, commentary, and also edit your videos, here's the simple truth:

You can't beat the no-commentary channels. They're going to have an uncut, 10+hr full playthrough up on launch day. Streamers will just marathon the game live. You can't outpace them, so don't try

Instead, just take your time and try to make the best videos you can. Ignore the impatient ones in your comments, especially if they say they're "going to go watch X person" that's further than you. You'll exhaust yourself catering to them and someone else will still do it faster

The only exception to this, I've found, is if it's a particularly difficult or cryptic niche game that not a lot of people are playing. Being among the first to beat it helps a lot in those cases. But again, if Twitch speedrunners are in the mix, you probably won't win that race!

Instead of trying to be early on hyped games (where you will lose to huge YT creators, streamers and no-commentary channels), try to be early on trends

Like instead of rushing out a series on Amnesia Rebirth, try to recognize when a game like Phasmophobia is about to blow up

Also, seriously consider streaming on Twitch. I know you might think it makes more sense to stream on YT because your subscribers are there, but IMO you have a better chance to grow through a Twitch Category for a hot game right now than trying to get the YT algorithm to like you

I hope this thread is helpful to someone, I know I had a lot of "you have NO CHANCE" moments in there but I just think many people newer to the YT gaming space waste a lot of time and energy trying out things that flat-out don't work anymore. Good luck out there!

To add on to the part about recognizing when a game is about to blow up:

Again, it pays to be engaged with Twitch. Trends on Twitch are sometimes as much as a full week ahead of YouTube. You can get an edge on YT by noticing when something's really starting to move over there