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Influencer Marketing: From Bored Losers to Overpaid Clowns (And Why You’re Still Broke)

Fortnite Skins Can’t Save You—How Gaming Influencers Like Asmongold, Stakuyi, and Pewdiepie Turned Clout Into Cash While You’re Still Grinding Bronze

Oi, you think influencer marketing is just pretty faces and free shampoo? Wake up, lah! This industry went from “bored at home, post selfie” to “I charge more for an IG story than your whole monthly rent.” Let’s roast this billion-dollar circus, Pok Gai style. (Now a word from our sponsor, 1440 Media: don’t worry, we’re not selling you protein powder... yet.)

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How Did We Get Here?

Back in the day, influencers were just bored people spamming food pics and flexing sad gym gains. Remember Smosh? Pewdiepie? They started as random nobodies making dumb videos in their bedrooms—now they’re basically the OGs of this circus. Fast forward: you got Asmongold (aka Roach King) pulling in millions just by reacting to drama, Ludi et Historia breaking down history memes for a living, Koifish and HeyCara flexing their Cantonese gamer cred, SpiffingBrit hacking games for tea money, and Stakuyi turning history rants into a full-time gig and a podcast.

Now? Any joker with a ring light and zero shame can call themselves a “content creator” and get paid more than your average doctor. Snapdragon and other gamer brands throw money at these clowns, hoping for viral magic. Your mom still asks why you’re not a doctor, but these guys are out here flexing sponsorships.

Why So Expensive Now? (And How Much Are They Really Getting?)

• Brands All Lost the Plot: Every company now thinks if they don’t hire a TikTok clown, their brand will die. That’s why Ludi et Historia can charge $10k for a meme about the Roman Empire, and Stakuyi gets paid to LARP on TikTok.

• AI Spam Everywhere: Bots helping brands find the “perfect fit,” but still end up with someone who can’t pronounce the product name.

• TikTok Ban Panic: US ban TikTok, so all the brands scramble to Instagram and YouTube, driving up the price like crazy. Suddenly, even Koifish’s cat gets a brand deal.

• Nano-Influencer FOMO: Now everyone wants “authentic” nano-influencers. Wah, so real, so raw, so… still asking for free stuff. Your cousin with 500 followers? She’s an “influencer” now, bro.

What Are Influencers Charging in 2025?

• Nano-influencers (500–10,000 followers): $10–$100 per post.

• Micro-influencers (10,000–50,000 followers): $100–$500 per post.

• Mid-tier influencers (50,000–100,000 followers): $500–$5,000 per post.

• Macro-influencers (100,000–500,000 followers): $5,000–$10,000 per post.

• Mega-influencers (500,000+ followers): $10,000+ per post.

On YouTube, a sponsored video can run $3,750–$6,000 for a mid-tier creator with 150,000 views. For Twitch, a two-hour sponsored segment with a decent streamer will cost $4,000–$8,000. The average gaming influencer charges about $180 for a sponsored post, but the big names? They’re cashing out—sometimes $10,000 or more for a single post.

Pok Gai’s Guide to Surviving the Influencer Apocalypse

1. Don’t Trust the Hype: Most of these “influencers” can’t even influence their own dog to sit. If they’re not at least as entertaining as SpiffingBrit breaking Skyrim or Stakuyi nerding out about history, skip.

2. Engagement > Follower Count: If their likes are lower than your bank balance, don’t bother. Ludi et Historia’s Discord is more active than most “influencer” comment sections.

3. Live Streams = Real Money: Forget static posts. If you can’t roast your chat live like Asmongold, HeyCara, or Koifish, you’re not making it.

4. Long-Term Deals Only: If a brand only wants you for one post, just ghost them back lah. Real influence is built, not bought in a single #ad.

What Can We Learn? (And Why Most of You Are Still Playing Alone)

For Game Designers

• Community Is King: The rise of influencers shows that games thrive when they build real communities, not just player bases. If your game can’t get people talking, streaming, and memeing together, you’re just another solo grind.

• Design for Social Play: There’s a growing epidemic of playing alone at home and online, instead of with friends in person. Bring back features that make it easy (and fun) to play together—couch co-op, party modes, and in-game events that actually reward teamwork, not just solo grinding.

• Flexible Content: Influencers love games they can break, mod, or meme. Give them tools, and they’ll do your marketing for you.

For Game Marketers

• Multi-Platform or Bust: No single platform is enough. You need Twitch, YouTube, TikTok, Discord, and whatever comes next to hit all corners of the gamerverse.

• Performance > Vanity: Stop chasing follower counts. Focus on engagement, retention, and real conversions. Long-term partnerships with influencers (not just one-off #ads) drive real results.

• Localize and Personalize: Different regions, different platforms, different vibes. Adapt your campaigns to local trends and regulations, or get ignored.

• Lean Into Community: Influencers are community leaders. Work with them to create content that feels native, not forced. Interactive collabs, exclusive in-game items, and live events beat boring banner ads every time.

For Gamers

• Don’t Get FOMO’d: Just because your favorite streamer is flexing a new game or skin doesn’t mean you need it. Play what you love, not what’s trending this week.

• Touch Grass, Bro: The more we play alone at home, the less we remember what real social gaming feels like. Host a LAN party, invite friends over, or play split-screen. Don’t let “online” replace “in person” forever.

• Support Real Community: The best gaming moments happen with friends, not just followers. Build your own squad, not just a follower list.

For Gaming Influencers

• Authenticity Wins: Audiences are getting smarter—if you’re just shilling products, they’ll tune out. Build trust, be real, and don’t sell out for every shampoo bottle.

• Diversify Your Content: Don’t rely on one platform or one game. The TikTok ban panic showed that your whole career can vanish overnight if you’re not prepared.

• Champion Social Play: Use your platform to bring people together—host community nights, IRL meetups, or charity streams. Be the reason people stop playing alone and start gaming together again.

Real Talk: What Would Pok Gai Do?

“Influencer marketing? Last time, you post for fun. Now, you post for money and still complain about ‘mental health.’ Bro, if you can’t handle hate comments, go play Stardew Valley. The rest of us grinding ranked and these jokers cashing out on skincare ads. Life not fair, lah.”

Look at Roach King Asmongold—dude gets roasted every day and just laughs his way to the bank. Koifish and HeyCara? Cantonese gamers who made it big by being themselves (and a bit toxic, but who isn’t?). Ludi et Historia and Stakuyi? Turning history lessons into content gold. Meanwhile, you’re still explaining to your parents what Twitch is.

Final Words (and a Little Salt)

So next time you see some Pok Gai flexing a #sponsored watch, remember: they started as bored nobodies, now they’re overpaid somebodies. And you? Still reading newsletters. GG.

Help Out Pok Gai Gamer!

If you want to see a real Pok Gai rise from newsletter nobody to overpaid YouTube clown, help us out!
Subscribe to our YouTube channel—we’re joining the ranks of the big boys to do Pok Gai gaming streams, roast sessions, and all the toxic fun you secretly love.
Follow us on all our socials (IG, TikTok, Twitter, Discord—you know the drill) so you can say “I was here before they sold out.”
Smash that subscribe, drop a follow, and let’s build a real community—maybe one day, we’ll flex a #sponsored watch together (or at least get free shampoo).

Pok Gai Gamer out. If you’re offended, just unfollow. I only influence winners.

Bonus: OG Influencer Hall of Fame

• Smosh: From YouTube skits to multi-million dollar brand.

• Pewdiepie: From screaming at barrels to king of YouTube.

• Asmongold: Roach King of Twitch, living proof you don’t need to shower to get rich.

• Ludi et Historia: Turned memes into a history lesson and a career.

• Koifish: The Swedish meme machine who took Jarl Haesteinn from “just another CK3 start” to absolute legend status. Koifish played Haesteinn so much, he literally got himself featured on Haesteinn’s Wikipedia page—talk about turning a meme into glory1. If you see Haesteinn memes, Koifish probably started it, and if you see anyone else playing him, they’re just following the Viking king of content.

• HeyCara: The most prominent female Paradox gamer out there, holding it down for the ladies in a sea of map-painting dudes. She’s not just a streamer—she’s setting the standard for what it means to be a top-tier Paradox creator, and showing everyone you don’t need to be a neckbeard to conquer the world.

• SpiffingBrit: Exploiting games, exploiting the system, and still sipping tea.

• Stakuyi: History nerd, podcast host, and proof that even talking too much about Mongol invasions can pay the bills.

Stay salty, stay toxic, and maybe one day you’ll get that shampoo sponsorship too.

Koifish’s Haesteinn obsession is so legendary he ended up on the Viking’s Wikipedia page, and HeyCara is the undisputed queen of Paradox gaming streams—don’t @ me1.

Influencer rates sourced from latest 2025 benchmarks: Nano-influencers: $10–$100/post, Micro: $100–$500/post, Mid-tier: $500–$5,000/post, Macro: $5,000–$10,000/post, Mega: $10,000+/post. YouTube and Twitch sponsorships for bigger creators can run $4,000–$20,000+ per campaign.