How Justin Wong Built A Career From Fighting Games

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We sit down with nine-time Evo World Champion Justin Wong to trace how arcade culture, early tournaments, and a global fighting game community shaped his life. We also dig into how he turns that competitive mindset into a sustainable YouTube and sponsor-driven creator business, including the $5,000 content gamble that paid for itself.

• Growing up at Chinatown Fair and finding confidence through arcade community 
• Learning fighting games in the magazine era and why players guarded their “tech” 
• First tournament stories, travel logistics, and getting hooked on competing 
• What early Evo looked like before streaming, sponsors, and massive prize pools 
• Evo Moment 37, why it went viral years later, and how Justin reframes the loss 
• Twitch streaming as community, plus the tension between content and serious practice 
• Taking YouTube seriously in 2019, posting variety, and building a consistent schedule 
• Thumbnails and titles that earn clicks, plus investing in editors and designers 
• Making real money through sponsorships while reinvesting ad revenue into production 
• The IRL boss challenge idea that hit 2M views and validated experimentation 
• Creator advice on patience, differentiation, and not obsessing over the numbers 

Make sure you go check that out. 
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Transcript

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Cold Open On Risk And Reward

SPEAKER_02 0:00

When you're 15 years old and you're from the early 2000s, that's a crack at the time. I just kept going and going and going. I even traveled internationally where I got invited to go to like Japan, like Australia, Mexico. It's not like I grew up thinking, oh, I want to be a pro gamer. That mentality didn't exist. The reason why I got famous, they were talking about what's the most famous esports moments of all time. Nine of them was all shooting games. But once it got to number one, they played Evo Moment 37. So I decided to do like a boss challenge. I invested all that cam equipment and travels. That was my first time ever using everything I bought. That video, it got to 2 million views. It paid for everything. Sometimes you just gotta try out.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

Hey,

Meet Justin Wong

SPEAKER_01 0:43

welcome back to the only podcast that's Plus On Block. I'm Travis, and I'm here every single week helping you grow your YouTube channel. And today I have a very special guest, nine time Evo World Champion, Justin Wong. Welcome to the show, Justin.

SPEAKER_02 0:54

What's up, man? Thank you for having me. Uh, it's been a while since uh I've been on one of these. So, you know, I've just been pretty busy and decided to make some time for it.

SPEAKER_01 1:04

I appreciate that. If you're new here, we help you grow your YouTube channel, usually by talking to other creators. And today we're going to talk to Justin, who is really a legend in the fighting game space. But I want to talk more about some of the things you've gone through because you've been a longtime YouTuber. But before you were doing YouTube, um yeah, even before you were doing YouTube kind of uh regularly, I knew about you because I like I've listened I I grew up in the arcade space. I worked at an arcade, I worked at the largest arcades in Seattle for for a couple of years. But growing up, I was an arcade kid, and there were several documentaries about arcades, and you were in a couple of them. And this was before I'd ever met you or talked to you, and I just thought, man, this this guy's crushing people on the East Coast. So tell

Growing Up At Chinatown Fair

SPEAKER_01 1:43

us about your upbringing in the arcade scene.

SPEAKER_02 1:45

I mean, I I grew up in New York, born and raised, and I played at its arcade called Chinatown Fair. And Chinatown Fair, I mean, it's there still, but it's not really the same anymore because uh it got shut down and it got rebought. Only the front looks the same, but inside is like very like you know, redemption games and everything, you know, all the different fighting games and classics like Pac-Man and Galaga, they're all gone, right? You got you got the little basketball basketball machines, the little you know, the little table where you get a slinky for X amount of tickets. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not the same anymore. But when I was playing at that arcade, like in the late 90s, early 2000s, every fighting game was was being played. There's there was always a group, you know, like the first thing you walk in is like you see the SNK vs Capcom Squad and the Alpha 3, then the the Marvers Capcom 2s, the Third Strike, the CVS2s, the the Guilty Gear, and the Tekken 5s. Unfortunately, there was no there was never a Mortal Kombat machine though. Oh, they had a more they had a Mortal Kombat 4 machine, but obviously that's not like the greatest Mortal Kombat, you know what not at all. But a long shot. It was it was uh it was a great attempt though. I'll give you I'll give them that. But we I never seen a Mortal Kombat 1, 2, or ultimate at Chinatown Fair. So we were mainly kind of a big Capcom slash SNK like arcade for fighting games. And yeah, I mean I grew up from there and I met like everybody and played with everybody because at that time it's like it was just really cool to talk and hang out. You know, I was very awkward as a a kid growing up, like just I was bad at socializing, I would stutter all the time, and playing at the arcade would give me confidence, and because obviously, like we have something in common. We can talk about you know, like this character's really good, and you know, there's no we didn't know anything about frame data or in terms of anything with numbers because that was a different time compared to now, right? And even when you do look at frame data from back in the day, even the develop developers didn't know what they were doing, they were just adding numbers, like you know, numbers just didn't make sense. Now there's magic numbers in fight fighting games now, right? Uh, but yeah, like it was a it was a place I wish I can revisit that passion, you know, because it's like when you think about arcades, when you think about like making friends, when you think about socializing, that those were some of the best times of my life, you know, for sure. So I cherish those, and anytime I'm I see an arcade, like I always want to just check it out and go, and you know, even if it's like empty or maybe like it's low expectations, it's it's just something I I can always appreciate is going to an arcade. So that's what Chinatown Fair gave to me.

SPEAKER_01 4:38

Chinatown

Learning Tech Before The Internet

SPEAKER_01 4:39

fair, there's a bunch of like really legendary places, and for those who don't know or listening, like I don't really understand what's going on. Back in the 90s, there were food courts and malls. I mean you still kind of have them, but always off to the food court there was an arcade, and nine times out of ten, there was like a KB Toys or something like that. We were nearby. If you know how many rocking the KB toys next to the arcade. Uh and in the arcade, unlike online gaming today, it was his own ecosystem, and there was something magical about those places. I met some of the most amazing people at arcades, uh, and and the friendships that were formed from there. And you made a lot of friends there too, and some that are now like streamers and stuff. But back then, there was no such thing as online video game stuff. When you wanted to learn about games, you'd buy the magazine. There might be an AOL chat somewhere, and you might be printing out the move sheets. Tell us about that time.

SPEAKER_02 5:26

Um, it it's funny because yeah, I would be at my like local like kind of bodega store. They'll have like the game pros, the the EGM, the tips and tricks, and I would read through them to kind of like figure out like, oh, like how do you do these special moves or like reading up like April Fool's joke on like oh, this is how you fight Shang Long and Dirt and Street Fighter 3. And I tried and I really believed it because the screenshots looked really good too. Um, and the funny part about like people keeping their their secrets, they really kept their secrets when it came down to fighting game knowledge. Like there was times where I would ask somebody like hey, how'd you do that like combo super? And he's like, I'm not telling you, right? So I would look at the hands and they would cover their hands. Wow. Right. So it was pretty brutal because obviously, when you know the arc that arcade culture, it had that uh like I want to be the top dog, right? And it's just a bragging right, like I'm the best at this arcade, so I can't let you know my secrets and everything. And it it really formed, you know, competition rivalry, and you want to beat this person because it made me feel like oh I I can't, I I need to get better so I can beat this person. So so like you know, it's like uh I guess bragging rights when it comes down to it. So that was another thing that I like. I feel like with online gaming, you don't I don't really have that drive of like wanting to be number one just because it's like you have cheaters or you have trolls, you know, like it it felt it feels way more relaxed compared to arcade where you have to spend your own money to to you know to play, right? So like, yeah, sure a game now can cost like $60, but if you think about like how many quarters that I put in in arcade, I'm sure it's way probably like uh maybe 50 times worth of $60 of a $60 game, you know.

SPEAKER_01 7:18

And

First Tournaments And First Consequences

SPEAKER_01 7:19

of course the environment was different, and there was no real concept of being uh quote famous or even having this become any type of job, even if you won tournaments. Let's start talking about tournaments because that's where you're known and where you really started making a name for yourself. Again, word spread in the late 90s, there was a little bit of internet going on, but like in the mid to uh to early 90s, you only kind of heard whispers of people. Um, and you definitely wanted to be one of the best. Talk to us about how you decided to eventually get into tournaments, some of your first tournament memories and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_02 7:49

You know, I actually didn't know what the tournament was growing up. Uh, so there was this tournament called East Coast Championship 5, and that was held at New Danullah, New Jersey, and it was at this arcade called The Break, you know, really famous arcade in New Jersey where they have like these national tournaments. And I would show up at 10 a.m. at Chinatown Fair because like that's kind of where and where I go play, even if nobody's there. I just like being in the arcade, playing against the CPU, because you know, there was no we didn't have training mode or whatever. I was just trying to get better. Um, and I saw a group of people and they were like, hey, we're going to this arcade. Do you want to come? So I decided to go, you know, and I'm thinking like, okay, you know, I'll go to this tournament, you know, check it out, play against people, and I'll be back home by five. Yeah, you know, like like my my curfew. So one, I didn't I I didn't have any geography knowledge, there's no cell phones, you know. We we were using map quest at the time. You know, you print out you use a printer to print out map quest directions and everything. So we took the we took the train to New Jersey, right? And then take another train from from like uh Newark in all the way to New Dunland. And that took like almost like an hour and a half to get there. So I I get there, and you know, I'm not thinking about like the time like when I get back and everything. Um, and I'm just playing like I see all these people, I see all these cabinets, I've never been to this arcade before. So I entered uh Street Fighter 3 Third Strike and Marvel's Capcom 1. They had Marvel 2 was out at this time, but because how Marvel 2 works, they didn't run a tournament for it because they not all the characters were unlocked yet.

SPEAKER_01 9:40

Oh, right, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:41

Right, because it was based off how much quarters you put in the machine, and that will like lock the next character, right? So I was playing in those two tournaments and I played so many people, people from like all around the tri-state area and the southern east coast, right? Some even from Midwest and West Coast, like that. Uh, and I got to fifth place uh for both of the games within like and there was like uh probably over like 500 people. I didn't know what that meant. Like I I I really didn't. And the people that I lost to were the people that I naturally lose to at my arcade in general. Gotcha, you know, so because of that, like it I felt like I lost to the same people that I normally did. But the people that I did beat, uh, you know, my f the the friends I went with, they were really impressed because he's like, yo, this guy was the best in this guy's the best in Virginia, this guy's the best in Boston. And I didn't think much of it, you know. But to me, it felt like, man, going to these tournaments was like the first one was very addicting because I get to fight so many different people I never fought before because I only fought against people in my arcade. Right. So that gave me a taste of like kind of like I wanted more. Um, but then I got my ass beat when I got home because clearly I got home the next day. Yeah, and uh, you know, there was no cell phones, no uh caller ID or anything like that. So it was straight payphone beeper status, and I pretty much was like, I can't, I I can't come home because the trains are are done. Like you know, like it's not it's not like New York where it's a 24-hour train.

SPEAKER_01 11:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:16

So I I was staying at a fr at like uh I was staying with my friend who's staying at a friend's house, and he let me crash until the morning, and then I was able to get back home. And you know, when you open the door as a kid and you see the lights on at like 6 a.m., you're like, oh shit, man. So some shit's about to go down. So that was me.

SPEAKER_01 11:33

You're about to catch your first loss of the day. All right.

SPEAKER_02 11:36

Yeah, for real.

SPEAKER_01 11:37

Oh man. So okay, so you start to catch the bug of uh tournaments, and uh it was starting off with this first one. Where was like the the next one you went to that was kind of like a big tournament that was uh I know you did like the the GameStop one, which I know a lot of people talk about. Was that kind of the first big one that you went to?

SPEAKER_02 11:52

Or no, that was way later. GameStop was like 2009. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 11:57

So so you were really playing for a long time.

SPEAKER_02 12:04

The year two 2001. So after that, I went to another tournament in Philadelphia, it was called Northeast Championships, and that was the first major tournament that I I won. And that was for Marvel's Capcom 2. So I went there and I won. And then because of that, a lot of people on the forums were saying, like, oh, this is this kid from Chinatown Fair, like he just beat everybody and it's too good, dah dah, dah dah. You know, I I didn't I I didn't have a computer, so I I I couldn't even like talk at all. Like I was just showing up to these events, yeah. And you know, like and I had um I had friends that helped me that to take me there because at the time I was uh uh 15 years old, right? And these are adults taking me, right? Yeah, and these are people from my arcade taking me to the tournament because obviously I don't know how to get from point A to point B at this at this time, right? I just followed and everything. So that was um that was really cool. Like ever since Northeast Championship, I started going to all these different tournaments because I realized, man, like every time I win a tournament, it's like a few hundred bucks in my pocket. So when you're 15 years old and you're from the early 2000s, that's a shit ton of money at the time, you know. So I just kept going and going and going. And then, you know, like I I played in tournaments for from that time from 2001 all the way to what you mentioned the GameStop 2009, and and I would never win big tournaments in terms of like prize pools. These are were tournaments where like you get a few hundred bucks, or if you win Evo, you get like a thousand or close to two thousand dollars or anything like that. Yeah, and I didn't care about making money at the time, it was just more of just full of passion and wanted to represent the arcade, and it's it still was addicting to play against all these people. And during those years, I even traveled internationally where I got invited to go to like Japan, like Australia, Mexico, like South a few places in South America and also in London, just to play some fighting games, right? And you when you think about it, it's like most people in their lifetime, they don't even get a chance to travel around the world. And I had the opportunity to travel doing it even now with for for playing some fighting games, and I still think that's a it's a crazy blessing, you know, just in general, right? Just crazy luck, crazy blessing. And because it's not like I grew up thinking, oh, I want to be a pro gamer. That did that that mentality didn't exist until now.

SPEAKER_01 14:41

Yeah, there was no such thing really. So let's talk about that. Um, and I I want to get to what you do now later, but back then there was um to the extent that it is now, there was no such thing as a pro gamer per se. There were tournaments and stuff, like you said, and you would win a couple hundred bucks here and there. Were you did you have a job during any of this time, or were you just kind of bouncing around?

SPEAKER_02 14:58

Or I was going to school, uh, so high school and then community college, and I would I was also working at like Circuit City before before they got you know they got bodied. And um I worked at like Dave and Buster's FAO Schwartz. I worked a lot of retail jobs, you know, at like for for a kid my age, like that's naturally what you're gonna get, right? So I while I was doing all that, I would still go to tournaments, but but the thing is there wasn't that many like tournaments like around the world at this time, right? This is more like four tournaments a year, and these those are kind of like the big ones you want to go to, right? So you have a lot of time planning. Now it's like every week is a tournament, you know. Every week, some places a tournament, some places a qualifier. So obviously, that's that's much harder to do now compared to back in the day where you have a lot more time to plan.

Evo Then And Now

SPEAKER_01 15:52

Let's talk a little bit about Evo, because uh this is where a lot of your fame comes from. Um, Evo, for people who don't know, in a lot of ways is considered the world championship of fighting games. There are now multiple ones, but once upon a time, there was just kind of the one in Vegas. Do you remember the first one you went to, what what you heard about it and and what what it was like going to it? Because so back then I know it was a lot smaller. Now, if you go, it's in a in an arena, there's literally thousands upon thousands of people there. But back then, much more intimate. Talk to us about that.

SPEAKER_02 16:19

Yeah, I mean, uh before it was called Evo, it was called Battle by the Bay before they like rebranded the name. And it wasn't all it wasn't always held in Vegas, it was in California for like at least up to until 2005. And going to these tournaments, obviously, paper brackets, you know, people are using arcade cabinets before they switch to console and everything, and yeah, like definitely less maybe less than 2,000 people like are there, but everyone still gathered to play to kind of like prove themselves and everything. And it was uh, I mean, it was a very humble time for sure, right? Because like there was no registration online, right? So you literally like have to sign up when you get there. So even the tournament organizers, like, well, yeah, we don't know how many people are gonna show up. We'll see how many people are gonna show up, right? There was no cap or anything. Um, and we just all we I just showed up with my friends uh that was taking me around kind of like America, uh, because they were like, hey man, like we need you to go out to California and try to become like the world champion. I guess like I don't know, like that's what they were calling it, and to represent the arcade saying that Chinatown Fair is the best arcade, because you know, rivalry was very strong back in the day, even like you know, East Coast versus West Coast, you know, that was really a big thing, even like outside of gaming, right? Like during like late 90s, early 2000s, and a lot of times people from the West Coast for at least the fighting game scene, they would talk a lot of smack saying East Coast sucks, blah blah blah. You know, and you know that that was normal, right? Normal shit talking compared to compared to now. And um yeah, I went there for B5 and I fought against Duck Doe, and he was the the champion from last year for under at uh B4. So I dethroned him in the grand finals winning uh B5, uh, my first like I guess official championship, um, that people would call it. And it was like um it wasn't streamed, but it was recorded by G4 TV at the time because I guess G4 TV was really popular and they're trying to find every like gaming thing out there, so they went to they went out there to kind of like uh film B5 in general, and you know, you could probably find DVDs, but I don't think you'll can buy it like you know, you you would somebody would have to buy it from like a garage sale or something, I don't know, or like font or like eBay or something, but yeah, that was the first time I won the tournament in 2001 in terms of like that that kind of like uh magnitude, and then 2002 they rebranded and called themselves Evo, right? So Evo 2002 that was in uh UCLA, right? A lot of the times the tournaments are held either in arcades or at like college campuses, so it was a UCLA, then Cal Poly Pomona, and then 2005 was kind of like when Evo finally got a little bit big because they were sponsored by Toyota for for like a few years. Yeah, no, 2005 was MOG sponsored them, and then 2006-2007 was Toyota, right? And 2008 was kind of like no sponsors left, so it's kind of uh Evo is dying type of thing because that was a super small year, and then obviously Street Fighter 4 came out in 2009, and that really exploded like the fighting game scene once again. Yeah, so because it's during that time fighting games weren't being made, like it was kind of like through only 3D Mortal Kombat for like PS2s, but Capcom wasn't doing anything with fighting game related during that time frame.

SPEAKER_01 20:11

That's crazy. And how much were you winning like in these tournaments? Like you said, just a couple hundred bucks here and there?

SPEAKER_02 20:15

Yeah, a couple hundred bucks, but when it was at Evo, because everyone showed up to it, um, it was probably around like 1500 to 2000.

SPEAKER_01 20:24

But that's interesting because like uh how many people would be in those tournaments generally speaking back then, would you say?

SPEAKER_02 20:29

Um so let's say for like the the tournaments that would win like hundreds of dollars. Yeah. So it's uh so I would let's say I win seven hundred dollars, right? From a from a tournament called like final round or like an ECC or Midwest Championship. So how how that is determined is let's say you have a hundred people. Yeah, 100 people pay $10 to enter. So that means it's a thousand dollar pot. Only top three gets paid. Uh so I would get first place, and so I would get $700 from that, right? 70% split, second place gets 20%, third place gets 10%. Yeah, uh, so that was pretty much based on how many entrants would enter the tournament, and that's how much you would get paid if you place in the top three.

SPEAKER_01 21:13

Well, nowadays you go to Evo now and and uh it's a whole experience at this point. Uh especially for like Street Fighter 6, there's uh multiple thousand people entering, and like uh what is like the top, like $10,000, $20,000 or something for first place?

SPEAKER_02 21:26

It was a lot more it's it's a lot more because obviously they have like a set prize pool now. Yeah, because obviously they have like a lot of investors, sponsors, and everything. So tournaments now, they're usually there's usually kind of like a set pot because of people investing into their tournaments. But if you don't, then it's based off entry fee. Like that's that's the percentage of a pot. This is kind of like a cash game in poker when you when you think about it.

SPEAKER_01 21:52

I mean, EWC is up to a million, which is crazy. Um

The Real Story Of Evo Moment 37

SPEAKER_01 21:56

let's talk a little bit about one thing that you've talked about a million times, but I want to bring it up because It's interesting how it's how it's followed you around. Evo moment 37. You've heard about it, you've talked about it. For those who don't know what it is, I'll just kind of briefly describe it. I know Justin's probably tired of talking about it at this point, but there's some things about it that are funny, which is why I want to bring it up. So this is a moment that happened at Evo that went viral back when there really wasn't anything that went viral, right? Again, this is like the only footage of it seems to be some like shaky cam.

unknown 22:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:24

Handy handicam.

SPEAKER_01 22:25

Yeah, handy cam. You want to explain exactly what it was and what happened?

SPEAKER_02 22:28

Um, pretty much it was against a Japanese player, his name is Daigo, and he was uh super famous um from Japan and obviously in America as well. And it was for Street Fighter 3 Thirst Strike, and that was kind of like my my not my first year of playing like Street Fighter 3, but like I was getting into the groove of like branching out from Marvel or SCAPCOM 2. Um, because I hated when people just call me uh you're only good at Marvel, so you can't play Street Fighter. So that's kind of why I started getting into Street Fighter, and then I got to the point of the tournament where it was only four people left. So I was kind of like the the highest placing American at that time, and we I fought against Daigo and I was doing well, so in my head, oh I should win here if I just throw the super because chip damage was such a huge factor in older games, right? Because of how you play Street Fire 2, you play any fighting games, you know chip damage is like really strong. So I threw it out. He starts parrying all these hits, and the crazy part is like, you know, like you when you go on social media now, you'll see some crazy cool gaming clips of combos and everything of techniques. We didn't have that back in the day. So our thing was like it's a uh this is a this is a like a myth, like a myth buster.

SPEAKER_01 23:54

Like this can never happen for real.

SPEAKER_02 23:55

Like you can like this is unparryable because it's too many hits, right? That's kind of the mentality that people had back in the day. And um, he parried it, and everyone lost their shit because they're like, wow, the the it was it's the myth was was actually proven to be false, that it is parryable, right? And I would say because of that moment, uh Third Strike became really popular again because Street because Third Strike was a fail, I would say in the beginning, a failed game. Like everyone didn't really like care about playing Street Fire 3, like in terms of like arcades, um, or just like people talking about they're like, Oh, Thirt Strike, we don't like that shit. You know, if it's not Street Fire 2 or the Alpha series, we're not about it, right? I don't know. Something about Thurstrike turned people off, I guess. Uh, but because of moment 37, it it got people really invested to play competitively again. Um, that when it came to the numbers of Evo, of like how many people like let's say entered the game, or it skyrocketed for the like the following year, right? Because Marvel 2 was always the number one game that they always closed out because that was that was like the game that everyone in America played. Yeah, but then now Street Fighter 3 Thirst Strike, where it was like kind of like that bottom entry skyrocketed to the top because of that moment.

SPEAKER_01 25:14

Let's talk a little bit about that. This thing has followed you for a year. Like, how many years ago did this actually happen?

SPEAKER_02 25:18

Uh, this happened in 2004.

SPEAKER_01 25:20

Okay, so we're talking over 20 years now.

SPEAKER_02 25:23

See, but you gotta think about this, right? The crazy part is this clip didn't go viral until the internet became popular. So this it it it went viral in 2009. So there was a five-year gap where nobody knew that this clip existed. Wow, that's because like if because you can only watch it if you were at the tournament or you buy the DVDs, and obviously, because fighting game tournaments were such a niche thing, uh, really niche thing back in the day, you know, it's it was like that if you know, you know. Right.

SPEAKER_01 25:55

Right. And it was it was a fight, so it's crazy. When I say fine, I'm talking about millions upon millions of views, but more so than that, even today, like I'll see you retweet stuff on Twitter where things in like that have nothing to do with fighting games will will talk, will like there'll be cakes, people have cakes with it, they'll have like shirts, they'll have and you'll be tweeting all this stuff, and there'll be things like on didn't we're like a cartoon or something, they did something simple. Like, what's the most famous thing you've seen that have kind of mocked this?

SPEAKER_02 26:19

I don't know at this point. There's there's a lot, like uh because a lot of games reference it now. Yeah, right. You mentioned like there is like the cake thing, yeah. It was the gingerbread man or some shit. Right? The gingerbread man, like from the dollar store, literally the the the the front art is uh a female gingerbread getting throwing a kick out, and the male gingerbread is pairing the kick. Clearly, like that is a reference right there. Uh, even uh when Smash Ultimate first came out and they introduced Ken, he parried Star Fox's multi-kicking move. So a lot of the there's just references everywhere in anime as well, too. I wouldn't be even I wouldn't even be surprised if if if the moment was in the Street Fighter movie. Like if that shit was in there, I wouldn't even be surprised at this point because it's kind of like like everyone plays it, plays into it because they know, like, oh, this is gonna get clicks, right? This is this is a reference. Because um, the reason why I got famous because I I forgot what video it was, but it was like um they were they were talking about the most what's the most famous esports moments of all time, and obviously most of the time you're gonna see like Halo or like Counter-Strike, right? So and the top ten, literally, like I think like nine of them was all shooting games. Yeah, but once it got to number one, they played Evil Moment 37. Wow, and that was so unexpected, and I think because of that video or like whatever that video was, uh it skyrocketed because it got everybody that was so into the shooting games, which were like kind of like the big draw, to check out evil moment 37.

SPEAKER_01 27:58

What's interesting is that it's it's a moment in which you lost and it's tied to you uh very closely. How do you do you have this kind of love-hate relationship with that thing? Because it can it never dies. It's this moment that was incredible, but also like not great for you in the moment, or do you look at it like that's kind of cool? I'm a part of history and just there's really cool stuff happening around it.

SPEAKER_02 28:20

Um, I would say it's it's kind of cool just because like, yeah, even though I took the loss, like even at that moment when it happened, I'm just like, damn, I can't even hate on that. You know, that's it. Like that was godlike, yeah. That was godlike. I can't even hate on that. Yeah, and two, when people come up to me and they say, Oh, I got into fighting games because of evil moment 37, like, how can I be upset about that? Because we are such a niche community, small community, um, at the time that because of this moment, because of my loss, it got more people playing fighting games, you know, it like boosted up the numbers. Like, that's something that you could be proud of, right? And and three, it's like kind of like people enjoy it, people have fun with it, and it's not like uh I get upset or annoyed about it because it's kind of like it's it's it's it is a cool moment. And the thing is, like uh I don't want to be that person that that's a sore loser, right? Because obviously you could be a you could be a person that take an L and be a super sore loser and you know have that negativity around you. I'm I'm typically a posit a positive person in general, and I and I and I keep it real, like I don't fake it or anything like that. Like if I think something was sick, then I'm gonna say that that that shit was sick. So that's what it comes down to, right? Because I I know I know people personally that takes L's really bad. I'm just like, yeah, you know, I kind of like don't like that energy around you, you know. That's what it is.

SPEAKER_01 29:45

So

Twitch Streaming And Building Community

SPEAKER_01 29:46

when did you start streaming online?

SPEAKER_02 29:49

Streaming.

SPEAKER_01 29:50

Um was that before or after you had YouTube, before you started doing YouTube?

SPEAKER_02 29:53

Uh I I was streaming in uh 20 2012 around there on Twitch. Uh because that was it was kind of like one of my uh sponsor obligations for the this esports team I was in with Evil Geniuses. They're like, hey, you gotta stream 40 hours a month and blah blah blah, you know. So but I wasn't really super into streaming. Interesting. Yeah, I wasn't really into it like just because it's like I feel like streaming when I was at my competitive like point, um, it made me like not play seriously. Oh so I had it because like you know, it because then you have to like look at the chat, answer questions and everything when you're trying to like figure something out, right? So I would stream here and there, but not too much. I I was I I was streaming a lot of Mortal Kombat X at the time, and I was getting a shit ton of viewers, like a lot uh during that time frame, and that was kind of when I started being more of like understanding the whole you know, having fun content creator like type of like feel because I wasn't playing serious, like I was playing, I was a tournament player, but like during those streams, I was really just trolling people, yeah, you know, at the time. Uh so but yeah, I I was I wasn't really streaming that much until streaming definitely became more popular for me probably after 2015.

SPEAKER_01 31:21

And that's what changed that made you kind of get more into it and like doing it more?

SPEAKER_02 31:26

It was more fun to talk to people at the time, and then like you know, I would I would do kind of like uh before there was Discord, what was it called? It was uh oh Team Speak? Team Speak, yeah, there you go. You know, Team Speak that and you know, people would just join in from the chat, we would just have a conversation. You know, it became more of like an online community, and I I I and I kind of enjoyed that a lot uh during that time. So so then it's just only hard to keep up with streaming because I had to travel so much for tournaments, right? Because when I come back, I don't want to stream and then I'll probably because I have the next few days I'd have to leave again for another tournament. So I was kind of like on and off during that time frame.

SPEAKER_01 32:09

When

Getting Serious About YouTube

SPEAKER_01 32:10

what made you go to YouTube? What was it about YouTube that made you want to start uh not just streaming, but like uploading uh regular content?

SPEAKER_02 32:17

So I I would say I started YouTube like seriously, probably around 2019. The reason why I started doing YouTube was because like I just wanted to try something different, you know. Like people always talk about like, oh, I I wish you post more on YouTube. And you know, at the time it's like, man, there's just so much. You got Twitch, you got Twitter, you got like Instagram, like I gotta do all this stuff. Oh man, you know, it's just it's a lot, right? Especially with the social media following and how important social media was getting at the time. Um and then I started doing YouTube because actually the person that got me really like thinking about it, like taking it seriously, was another Street Fighter player that was playing competitively and also streaming, uh Smug, right? And he he's a really famous like Street Fire 4 player uh from New York. And what when I saw him that he was consistently like posting stuff, and I'm like, man, I need to step my shit up, right? So so he got me just just seeing all that content posting on YouTube, it made it got me motivated to do it as well. So I would say I I because of him, I would start posting a lot more as well, and just try it out, right? And uh the the the thing about it, the reason why I think I kept going was it was a lot of fun because uh I see people other people posting YouTube and I kind of see like why I didn't want to do it at first, and I just went with the mindset of like, you know what, I don't even care what happens when it comes down to YouTube, right? Because the one thing I'm not a fan of is when you're like tied to one game or one topic that you always have to make videos for. Yeah, I I I wasn't a fan of doing that. So, but the thing is, I was like, I'm gonna just post whatever I want to post. And because of that, people enjoyed it, people kept growing. I see the positive comments, and that really got me into wanting to invest more time into YouTube after that.

SPEAKER_01 34:22

What I think is interesting about you is that you um you have a successful main YouTube channel. We'll talk about you have other channels too, which I think are really interesting. But it wasn't like just because you were a former world champion that you immediately got a bunch of viewers. I mean, you have uh over 2,500 videos on your main channel, so it wasn't like it came easy. You still had to grind. When I first kind of met you when we were kind of both working with Arcade One Up, um, you were still on the come up, like thing you were still just posting, and it wasn't again like you had a ton of viewers or a ton of subscribers or anything, you had to grind for it. What have you learned in your content uh building uh of your channel that maybe you didn't know at first?

SPEAKER_02 34:57

You know, I feel I would say probably the biggest thing is how you how you make the video look in terms of like the thumb like the thumbnails and and titles. I would say my titling and the way I want my thumbnails to look were are so different from the start compared to now. Um, so they're more like minimal. Before I would have like so much shit on there, and it like and I look at it and I'm like, man, I don't know why I did that, right? Um, but in terms of like the same type of content, it's still the same from day one, like just kind of whatever I want to do, then that's what I'm gonna do. Right. So the only difference now is that like um I'm more like ready to kind of like if something if an announcement comes out like 10 minutes from now, then I would do a reaction and you know get it ready for like as soon as possible, right? Yeah compared to back in the day where it's like you know, I'll post whenever I feel like it. Uh now it's more of just like I have a a really set schedule and it's doing well because people are like looking forward to that time. It's like TV, right? You're like, oh, I know when when Dragon Ball comes in the morning, so I I need to watch my daily Dragon Ball like episode before I go to work or school. So I'm kind of like that person where like okay, like I know Justin posts around 12 p.m. PST, like Monday through Saturday. So I should look forward to see like if this video is gonna interest me or not, right? So I would say I have more of a an organized schedule compared to back in the days because sometimes back in the day I would post at 12 or 9 p.m. or you know, like odd times, right? Yeah, and and I wouldn't even even put thumbnails, it would just be just whatever placeholder that YouTube automatically decides. So I would say that's like the main difference, like like finding the reason why people would what would want to click that isn't your subscriber.

SPEAKER_01 37:05

What's the um what so you have a family now, so you can't just be uh playing video games and not making a whole bunch of money and hope it's

Sponsors Editors And A Content Business

SPEAKER_01 37:12

okay. You have a literal family that you need to take care of. You have a beautiful young daughter and you have so much love for your family, and you want to make sure that they have a great place to live and all that other stuff. So it means you've got to make money. Yeah, so what what percentage of like what you make comes from YouTube and like what percentage comes from other things?

SPEAKER_02 37:28

Um, so I would say in terms of YouTube revenue, it's not much. Really? You just be like uh just because uh I use that money to invest for like paying editors, uh paying uh thumbnail designers, and also like using it for like if I need to buy like a specific controller or travel to record videos or get camo equipment, right? So stuff like that is kind of where ad revenue goes. Uh, but most of the the the money I get are from like kind of like the sponsors, like like oh, like put this 90 second YouTube CTA in your video or whatever, right? Or like make a uh a video uh doing a review of like a controller or like a game like like that. So I would say those are the ones that are is pretty much feeding the the family and going to savings for the kids and everything like that. Um, and I'm I was actually completely fine with that because obviously, like you mentioned, I didn't have a ton of subscribers and a ton of view count when I first started.

SPEAKER_03 38:39

Right.

SPEAKER_02 38:39

So I invested my you know, pretty much my own money into paying all these uh different editors, then you know, trying out different editors and everything like that, and paying like people to make thumbnails and everything. And it I would say it took like three years until the channel started to make money, and I don't have to pay anything out of my pocket. Wow. So let's say like right now, I like uh whatever YouTube pays me a month, that pays for all of the editors and everything, and even then some obviously used for like trips and everything, where I go to tournaments and do content there. Um because usually the IRL stuff is what does the best on my channel, you know?

The IRL Boss Challenge Breakthrough

SPEAKER_02 39:25

So like I I I took that next step where I was like, man, I I want to do more instead of just doing just play-at-home gameplay and stuff, right? So I I spent like five thousand dollars on like camera equipment, tripod, and you know, like getting all that type of stuff, right? Just so just because I want to take us to the next level, right? And literally, like it was such a big gamble because I was like, man, you know, I would because I because I watch a lot of YouTube of other YouTubers that's not fighting game related, just like you know, like random stuff that pops up, and it one of them gave I watched a ping pong YouTube video, and that and they're like, hey, you know, they put this guy played ping pong on the street against people, and if they win, they give m they give that random person a hundred dollars. Wow. And I was like, okay, that's pretty much like a beat a pro. But I didn't want to do beat a pro because I thought beat a pro would be too obvious, too boring, and the viewers would be like, nobody's gonna beat you, and everything like that. Yeah, so I decided to do like a boss challenge where you know people in modern fighting games fight against old bosses, you know, from back in the day because they probably never tried it. And the f and you know, I invested all that camera equipment and the travels for for that, and I I went to this tournament called Texas Showdown. Right. That was my first time ever using everything I bought um, you know, for this investment. And I did a video where you know, and if you guys beat them, I give you X mount X amount of money for beating uh um Street Fighter Alpha 1 Akuma, right? And that video is like uh it got to 2 million views, wow, and it paid for everything, it paid for literally that investment alone, like that $5,000 worth of equip of equipment, right? So sometimes you just gotta try shit out. So I I am a believer of just trying out like content that you think might work. Like if you keep it too samesy, it gets kind of like generic and a little bit boring just because like your viewers expect it. Like my favorite compliment of when people talk to me about my YouTube channel is like I love the fact that I don't know what I'm going to get. It's like a jacknap box. So that's like my my my favorite compliment because that's what I want it to be. Because I don't want to be known as like the Street Fighter guy or like the Marvel's Capcom guy. I want to be known as like the fighting game guy, you know, that just puts out like any fun content and anything I try and even like experiment with IRL stuff. Um, and even with like arcade, go like going to arcades and vlogging and giving them more exposure for people to try out, like or people to visit the arcades. Like I'm always about like trying to get my fan base to acknowledge that these things exist. Like it could be like like for example, like when I do a video for like indie fighting games, I know that indie fighting games on my channel won't do well, right? Right, like but I'm willing to take the loss on it so people can see that this fighting game exists, and even if like let's say if it gets like 20,000 views, but if a hundred of you buy this game, that makes me happy. I don't get a kickback or anything from it. It's just more just like I want more people to appreciate all the fighting games out there that's not like the mainstream ones like Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8, or whatever. I want people to realize that there's more fighting games than you then you probably like, you know, you probably don't even know that these games exist. So I'm always about that.

SPEAKER_01 43:07

You recently spun off to uh a real life channel, a vlogging channel, like where you travel. That's a risk too. Like you're you're not known for that, but in 20 videos, you already have 10,000 subscribers. Congratulations, that's incredible. Yeah, yeah. Tell us a little bit about that. What what made you do that? And uh were were you scared, or you just thought it would be a fun little side project?

SPEAKER_02 43:23

Um, fun side project, and uh yeah, it's a really fun side project, and pretty much gives me a another reason to write off stuff. But I feel like I go to, you know, I I'm blessed to go to all these different places around the world. And I mentioned that like maybe a lot of these people, they probably won't even have an opportunity to to go to these places. Or what if they do and they don't know where to go? So I'm just like, well, these are the the places that I like to go to or I like to check out, and I might as well Document that right just a experiment. I don't have any expectations for that for the IRL channel, uh, the vlogging channel, just because there's a shit ton of people you know doing that as their main thing. It's more just like uh something for me to look back on when I'm like 20 years down the road and be like, man, look, look at the cool shit that I used to do back in the day. You know, that's that it's more for for me personally. It's not it's not in a you know, and if people find it interesting, then thanks. You know, I appreciate that.

Advice For Creators Who Want Growth

SPEAKER_01 44:30

For any content creator that's starting out, uh, whether it be in the gaming space or not, uh just give them one piece of advice that you wish you had known when you started out. Uh 2026 is different. AI is everywhere, there's a lot of different things. There's live streaming, there's shorts, there's things that weren't available when you first started. What is something that you think someone who's starting now um should know about the platform of YouTube and Twitch and live streaming and uh prep produced content?

SPEAKER_02 44:50

No, that's that's that's always tough. And then I feel like a lot of times I tell people, because you know, I get this question a good amount of times on chat, is uh like don't expect like results overnight, right? Obviously, like you have to grind for it. It's there's no shortcuts. Obviously, you know, we're human, we're always trying to find a shortcut in something. Yeah, but when it comes down to this, like there's no shortcut, like you really have to put your time, effort, investment. Um, and you know, like I mentioned, like yeah, like I invested my own money for like a few years, uh, and then now my YouTube has gone to the to the point where I don't need to put money, um, you know, spend my own personal money to keep it growing. So I'm really happy about that, right? And it took it took time, it took time. So I think anyone can do it because it's kind of that's kind of how YouTube and live streaming is. Like, you just really have to find a reason why people should watch the content you put out. Like, you know, if you're gonna put out content, uh you would you should rewatch it a few times and see like what can how can I make it better? Would I watch this? You know, like you have you can't just like throw some slop out there and like hopefully this catches on, right? And experiment, don't be afraid to experiment because sometimes, like, let's say you're a fighting game player and you're just like, Man, my my road to master is not making all these views. Well, yeah, probably no shit because everyone's doing road to master, right? Like, you have to do something where it's like, okay, like why should I watch um your your road to master when I could watch like Punk the God's road to master or like you know, like a famous player's road to master, you know, that's because I guess what most of the time people are going to search in that search in the YouTube search bar, right? So you have to do something different that only you could do, or you or or you're the only one that's producing it, you know. So you gotta search somewhere. Um, I know it's hard, it's not, it's definitely not easy, but if you could find content that you are willing to put out and you find it fun, then you're not gonna think of it as work, you're not gonna be stressed about it, and you're not gonna care about the numbers, right? Because never don't look at the numbers because you're you'll stress yourself out too much. If you're like, man, you know, my I wish this should have got this should have got a thousand views or something, but I only got a hundred views. Well, you gotta start somewhere, right?

SPEAKER_01 47:28

That's what it comes down to. I love that. If

Setting Up The Friendly Match

SPEAKER_01 47:31

you're listening to the audio podcast, there'll be links in the show notes to Justin's channel and a link to the YouTube video. And the reason I'm pointing that out is because we're just gonna do something real fun here at the end. Uh Justin is uh obviously a world champion gamer, and I'm gonna play him in a couple games. We're just gonna have a little fun, nothing, nothing sweaty. Uh, I'm gonna play a game that he's good at, and then he's gonna play a game I'm good at, and we'll see what happens. So if you're listening to the audio podcast, make sure you go check that out. Otherwise, we'll see you guys in the next one for the YouTube channel. Let's lock in, let's get this going. All right, so I'm I'm playing uh Justin. This is the only game of these that I'm actually any decent at, so we'll see how this goes. I'm sure it won't go good.

SPEAKER_00 48:07

Okay, now he's gonna come out. No, no, no, not like this. Nah, not like this. Hold on. Can we talk about this?

SPEAKER_01 48:15

Hold on, no, wait, hold on, no, I should drop it though, right? I it's too late for me to get a refund. I've had this game for like a year. It's too late. Nah, you dropped it. Get out of here. Let's go.

SPEAKER_00 48:26

Let's go. He's a berserker barrage. Oh, oh, I don't know if there we go.

SPEAKER_02 48:36

Nice, good DP though.

SPEAKER_00 48:38

Oh no, that was dumb. That was done. You shouldn't you shouldn't tag there. No tag.

SPEAKER_01 48:45

Oh, wait a minute, hold on. We can talk about this. Can we? Alright, we can't talk about this. Alright, now I got this.

SPEAKER_00 48:50

Oh, wait, hold on! I didn't get to press a button. Alright, alright. Ah, done it! Wait, and I'm dizzy, and I'm dizzy! Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:59

Storm does a lot of Storm does a lot of dizzy. Okay, alright. We'll have one more. We'll get the rematch on this one. I think I got it now. I think I got you downloaded. You'd come to an arcade. Whoops. Oh, I hit pause on there. I I I somehow I'm in pause. How did I get paused? Oh no, now I'm in the I'm in the I think you hit select. I think you hit select. I think I must have. Wait, how did I hit select? Okay, there we go. Alright. So oh my god, this is over already. Hold on. Oh, it did it again. Oh.

SPEAKER_00 49:27

What am I doing? Pressing the wrong buttons!

SPEAKER_01 49:32

Why are you losing? Oh, I see, because I have eight buttons on my thing. Okay, that's alright. How many fights did this cause? This right here. How many fights in the arcade did this cause? Uh-oh. Oh no. Not like this. Oh. Okay, alright. That's alright. Oh, I got lifted. Oh, this is not good. This is this is not good. Uh-oh. Oh, Jesus. I didn't even press a button. House way! Oh, I sidestepped and I didn't get what?

SPEAKER_00 50:04

We going all the way? We going all- We going all the rounds?

SPEAKER_01 50:06

We got it. Alright, we got it. We got the first one. We did it. He beat me twice. I gotta beat him twice. But I gotta do it. I gotta do it more forcefully this time. Because that was terrible. Oh, for crying out loud! Why? How, Sway? I know this character. How is he doing this to me? It's ridiculous. Oh. Oh my lanta. No! Stop it! Why? How? Why? This is terrible. I'm not listening I'm showing deference. Hello? Ha ha!

SPEAKER_00 50:43

Why? Oh, for crying out loud. Three? Three in a row?

SPEAKER_01 50:49

But why? It's my is the game I'm good at. If

Final Plug And Subscribe

SPEAKER_01 50:52

you enjoyed this video, there'll be uh links in the show notes. Maybe I don't know. I'm hating right now. I'm hating and maybe I won't put links in the show notes, but uh there should be links in the show notes in the description. Justin's a great guy, he has a bunch of really amazing videos, so make sure you check that out. Uh, there'll be links in the description and everything else. And if you're new here, feel free to hit that subscribe button. And we'll see y'all in uh the next one.