Post
The 2010s phenomenon of people watching other people play games, which reshaped game marketing and made YouTubers the new kingmakers.
Before 2010, the idea of watching someone else play a game was niche. PewDiePie, Markiplier, and Game Grumps built audiences in the millions, and suddenly a playthrough video could drive more sales than a TV ad. Horror games and narrative adventures benefited most: Five Nights at Freddy's, Amnesia, and Undertale became hits largely because they were hilarious to watch being played. Studios rewrote their marketing playbooks around streamer-bait design.
Example
PewDiePie's Amnesia let's plays hit 50M+ views. Markiplier's Five Nights at Freddy's runs essentially made the franchise. The 'YouTube horror' wave from 2012-2016 spawned an entire cottage industry of jump-scare indies.
Why it matters
Let's Plays inverted the game-media relationship. For decades, magazines and websites decided what was popular; now community creators do. Every modern marketing plan budgets for creator outreach because of the pattern Let's Plays established.
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