The rise of Markiplier: The gaming YouTube superstar whose fans crashed OnlyFans but says the media purposely ignore him
Markiplier is one of the biggest gaming YouTubers with over 34 million subscribers.
He has been making videos for a decade and has a huge, loyal fanbase.
He recently said that traditional media seem weirdly determined to ignore his success.
Markiplier, whose real name is Mark Fischbach, is one of YouTube's biggest gaming creators with over 34 million subscribers and more than 19 billion total views.
In his decade-long content creation career he's grown a large and fiercely dedicated fan base who support his ambitious projects — one of which was nominated at the recent Children's and Family Emmy Awards.
Markiplier was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, but his parents are from Korea and Kentucky.
Fischbach, who is 33 years old, was born on June 28, 1989. He started making videos when he lived in Cincinnati, Ohio, but later moved to Los Angeles.
Fischbach's father, Cliffton Fischbach, was from Louisville, Kentucky. He served in the US military, meeting Fischbach's mother when he was stationed in South Korea.
Fischbach's mother Sunok Frank is affectionately known as "Momiplier" to his fans.
She is from North Korea, and her family fled to South Korea during the Korean War in the 1950s.
She left Korea with Cliffton at age 21. She has appeared in a number of Fischbach's videos where she has painted his nails, they've learned Korean together, and played horror games.
Fischbach's parents divorced when he was young, but he has described having good relationships with both his step parents. Cliffton died in July 2008.
Fischbach also has an older brother named Jason Thomas Fischbach who is a digital artist.
Markiplier's start on YouTube 10 years ago wasn't the smoothest.
Fischbach originally studied medical engineering at the University of Cincinnati, and dropped out when his YouTube channel started taking off.
But it wasn't an instant success. He abandoned his first YouTube channel which had grown to 94,000 subscribers 10 years ago due to problems with his AdSense account, the means by which creators monetize their videos.
In a short vlog, which is the only remaining video on the old account, Fischbach said his channel was growing very quickly, and making money from YouTube was "something I was looking to get into."
"It would be great to do this as a living," he said. "I love this channel and I love entertaining you guys."
He started his new channel markiplierGAME in April 2012, which he would later change to just Markiplier. When he celebrated 10 years on YouTube this year, he had grown to over 32 million subscribers, posted over 5,000 videos, and is now one of the most recognizable gamers on the internet.
He has a trademark style that fans can't get enough of.
Over time he developed a trademark gregarious style, where he talks all the way through his streams, jokes about his characters and reacts to what his fans write in the live chat.
Fischbach also has a reputation for comical "rage outs" when a game is hard or glitches. He sometimes goes down pointless routes in games just to troll his fans.
His YouTube career has mirrored the rise of cult horror game franchise "Five Nights at Freddy's".
Fischbach's first video series on his second channel was a playthrough of the survival-horror game "Amnesia: The Dark Descent," which would set the tone for his internet career.
One of Fischbach's most popular videos on his channel is his first play through of the now cult classic horror game "Five Nights at Freddy's" eight years ago, which has 106 million views.
The game, colloquially known as "FNAF," would become a staple horror series among gamers, with several more games in the franchise, fan-made spin-offs, and books.
Its success mirrored Fischbach's gaming career. Whenever a new "FNAF" game comes out, Fischbach is one of the creators the fandom goes to for a playthrough, sometimes watching his livestreams for hours at a time.
He has a mixture of content on his channel.
Other popular videos on Fischbach's channel are "MEOW" (365 million views), "WOOF" (149 million views), and "MOO" (103 million views), where Fischbach narrates videos of cats, dogs, and cows in his characteristic deep voice with a filter that attaches his mouth to the animals' faces.
He has been hospitalized a number of times.
On March 23, 2015, Fischbach had emergency surgery to remove a blockage in his intestines, and updated his fans with a short video from his hospital bed.
"I don't want to worry anyone but thought you all should know what's going on," he wrote in the video's caption. "Thanks for all the love and care you've been showing me while I'm stuck at the hospital!"
He made a full recovery, but was hospitalized again in December 2020 for another bowel obstruction. He said the problem "came out of nowhere" but he was fine and didn't need to go into surgery again.
Markiplier has been dating Amy Nelson since 2015.
Fischbach has a long term partner named Amy Nelson, who is a graphic designer and animator. They have been together since 2015 and share a golden retriever named Chica and a retriever mix called Henry.
Nelson occasionally appears on Fischbach's channel to play games or appear in livestreams, and she is often behind the camera when Fischbach films vlogs.
Some of Markiplier's content has been experimental.
As well as gaming, Fischbach has also been involved in some ambitious projects. On November 13, 2019, Fischbach started a channel called Unus Annus with fellow YouTuber Ethan Nestor-Darling.
The concept was that Fischbach and Nestor-Darling that were nothing like their usual videos, and it would get deleted in exactly one year from its creation.
As per their plan, on November 14, 2020, they terminated the channel, and Fischbach said he would work to stop any videos getting re-uploaded.
He's also tried his hand at directing.
Fischbach has also tried out video production and direction. On Valentine's Day 2014, he posted "A Date with Markiplier" which is filmed from the perspective of the viewer going on a date with Fischbach.
After the first video, the viewer then chooses an option — to pay or not pay the restaurant bill when it becomes clear Fischbach has forgotten his wallet. Depending on the choices the viewer makes throughout the series, there are 10 different endings.
Other projects in this style include "A Heist with Markiplier," which was made in collaboration with YouTube Red, and "In Space with Markiplier" which earned Fischbach a nomination for the Outstanding Interactive Media award at the Children's and Family Emmy Awards in Los Angeles on December 10.
Markiplier is candid about what it's like to be a content creator.
Despite his nomination, Fischbach said in a livestream the day after that he found the event "extremely underwhelming" and "awkward" because he was essentially ignored by every media outlet in attendance.
As one of the YouTubers who has managed to bridge the gap between mainstream and internet fame — appearing on "Late Night with Seth Meyers" in 2019 and taking part in interviews with outlets such as Wired — Fischbach said he found it surprising that reporters at the event "actively didn't want to talk to me."
"They realize that I and none of my fellow content creators need them in any way," he said.
"And the moment that they acknowledge that reality, everything just kind of falls apart for them, and it's really hilarious."
Fischbach has referred to himself many times as an introvert who doesn't particularly like parties or the social obligation aspect of being a content creator.
Markiplier's fanbase is one of the most dedicated on the internet.
YouTubers tend to have loyal fans because of their willingness to interact with the people who subscribe to them.
Fischbach's fandom is no different, and his followers have shown time and time again they are supportive of his projects.
In October, Fischbach said he would set up an OnlyFans account if they got both of his podcasts to the top of the charts on Apple Music and Spotify. They did so in a matter of days, prompting Fischbach to tweet "...huh" alongside a retweet of a fan's screenshot of the ranking.
"You guys beat Joe Rogan, which was unexpected," Fischbach said in a video. "In three days. That was surprising."
Fischbach then gave his fans another task: to sign up to watch the documentary he made about his mother and her roots in North Korea called "Markiplier from North Korea." Again, Fischbach's fans met the conditions.
Fischbach announced the "first of three drops of tasteful nudes" on December 8. It was so popular, the site became overloaded and crashed.
After a decade on YouTube, Markiplier is still highly successful.
As of December, Fischbach's channel remains a powerhouse, with his YouTube videos regularly exceeding a million views.
He has collaborated with some of YouTube's other gaming superstars including PewDiePie, Jacksepticeye, and MatPat from The Game Theorists, and was voted "Gamer of the Year" at the 2022 Streamy Awards.
He has two podcasts, and a clothing line called CLOAK which he founded in 2018 with Jacksepticeye, real name Seán McLoughlin.
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