PewDiePie, the immensely popular YouTuber has been cashing on his popularity by launching other ventures that are proving to be equally successful as his storied video publishing career. This is recently demonstrated by the YouTuber's new game, called PewDiePie's Tuber Simulator, which immediately reached the top of the Apple's App Store free games list after being released last Sept. 28.
The simulator, which is published by Outerminds Inc., is a parody of the life of a YouTube video creator. It is built as a retro video game that features 8-bit-style graphics seen in previously successful titles such as Flappy Bird or even Outerminds' Tadpole Tap. It was co-developed by Revelmode, the partnership between Felix Kjellberg, PewDiePie's real name, and Disney's own Maker Studios.
In the game, the user creates a YouTube creator, who is trying to secure YouTube views and amass a large number of followers, ultimately toppling PewDiePie from his position as a top YouTuber. The player goes about the simulation, purchasing items such as clothes, furniture and even pets along the way so that he can make even better and more popular videos. The goal is to reach and even surpass more than 48 million subscribers, the current number of PewDiePie fans who are zealously following his YouTube channel.
The immense popularity of the game has led its servers to crash. Several players are already taking to social media to vent their frustrations after encountering error messages. Even Outerminds was forced to issue an apology to these players in its Twitter account, citing that it is currently working furiously to solve the problem.
Thanks for your patience guys! We are working as hard as we can to resolve all the server issues.
— Outerminds (@Outerminds) Sept. 29, 2016
PewDiePie's Tuber Simulator currently ranks within the top 100 highest-grossing games in the United States. It is currently ranked second in the overall free app list, only trailing Apple's iTunes U. It is, therefore, earning a significant amount of money. It is important to note that while the game is free, players can pay money for certain in-game transactions in order to progress faster toward their "Tuber" dream. For example, players can purchase 100 Bux, the game's currency, for 99 cents.
So far, player response has been largely positive. The game has a 4.8 rating at Google Play with more than 96,000 users as of this writing giving it a 5-star rating.
PewDiePie has previously released a game called PewDiePie: Legend of the Brofist, also in collaboration with Outerminds. Unlike the Tuber simulation game, however, it is a pixel-platformer that engages the players to play across levels zapping enemies with acquired powers.
