Gaming is becoming incredibly popular on YouTube these days with game vloggers make millions of dollars out of them yearly. One of the most popular up-coming gaming YouTube channels is Game Grumps. The Let’s Play series was created in 2012 and celebrated its fifth anniversary on July 18th, 2017. In six years of its existence, the channel has raked 4 million subscribers and more than 3.4 billion views. Its influence in the social media is equally amazing with over 1.5 million following on Twitter and 360,000 followership on Facebook.
The series which was originally co-hosted by Jonathan Jon Tron Aryan Jafari and Arin Egoraptor Hanson is centered mostly on gamers playing a video game picked by fans and making funny comments about their experience on the game. After Jon Jafari left the YouTube series in 2013 to focus on creating his own series, he was replaced by comedian and Sex Ninja music band member, Dan Avidan. The Game Grumps Channel was part of American multi-channel network, Polaris for the first 3 years of its airing but has been absorbed by gaming network, JETPAK, which is owned by the game commentator, Adam Montoya aka Seananners.
Over time, the channel has scaled up its hosts by including more internet personalities including Australian animator and voice actor, Ross O’Donovan among others.
Things To Know About Game Grumps
1. How the series was birthed
It all began when Jon Jafari and Arin Hanson argued over Super Nintendo game, Kirby Super Star . The subject of the argument was whether the character, Wolf , was a clone of another character (Fox) from another fighting game, Super Smash Bros; this was due to their similar fighting techniques .
As it happened, Ross O’Donovan pointed out to the duo how grumpy they were at each other; a comment that light a bulb in Hanson’s mind and made him suggest they make a podcast out of it. The podcast eventually evolved into the Game Grumps web series. The very first video of the channel was posted on the 10th of July 2012, it was based on the Kirby Super Star – the same game that led to the argument that birthed the idea of the channel.
2. Game Grumps enjoyed a steady stream influx prior to the departure of its co-host
The very first host to exit the channel was one of its originators, Jon Jafari. As stated earlier, he left to effectively focus on the creation of his own YouTube Channel. He was succeeded by Dan Avidan, the lead vocalist of the comedic music band, Ninja Sex Party. With Avidan as the co-host, the series expanded to include Hanson’s wife, Suzy Berhow (who also owns 3 YouTube channels bordering on make-up artistry, fashion, and animation) and Barry Kramer as manager and editor respectively. Also, the channel expanded to include another series ( Steam Rolled) comprising of a group of four players playing and commenting on various kinds of games.
Barry Kramer left the series in August 2014 and was succeeded by Kevin Abernathy. Kevin also left in 2016 to focus on his trailer editing and was succeeded by Matt Watson and Ryan Magee. Brian Wecht, a keyboardist and another member of the Ninja Sex Party joined the series in November 2015, he appeared in various spin-offs of the YouTube gaming series. A good number of guest personalities like Grant Kirkhope, Dan Harmon, Fin Wolfhard, and Jacob Anderson have also featured in the series.
Read Also: Smosh Comedy Group Cast Members, Net Worth, Why Did Anthony Leave?
3. They created their own game
The Game Grumps crew came up with a game of their own called Dream Daddy, a game where the players participate as a single dad looking to date other single dads. Game sales tracking website SteamSpy reports an estimated 189,900 copies of the games sold so far. This has seen the net worth of Game Grumps grow to as much as $5 million.
4. The main co-hosts starred in Good Game
Both Dan Avidan and Arin Hanson starred in American Comedy Web TV series Good Game, in August 2017. The series which was canceled in March 2018 after airing a single season, tells a story of a motley team of esports players’ attempt to win in a world of competitive gaming. The TV series was, however, shut down due to poor viewership.
5. Game Grumps seeks to promote human welfare
The channel donated proceeds from auction sales of video games made on eBay in 2013 to the children hospital charity organization, Child’s Play. It also donated proceeds from a 5 episode mini-series, Guild Grumps to cancer research in 2015. In February 2018, the channel raised money from a 6-hour live-stream for a global non-profit organization, Crisis Text Line.