Having always has a passion for playing video games, James “Jameskii” Prime spends each and every day doing what he loves. The popular YouTuber has millions of fans across the globe, that tune into each and every new video he uploads. His unique parody style content based on video games and web culture has vastly resonated with his audience.

“I can be anywhere at any point of time and create content for people across the entire globe just with an access to a phone or computer. Being raised in a poor neighborhood, I would’ve never imagined that it would even be possible. It’s incredible. Influencers and internet personalities are a huge part of our modern culture now and we take it for granted these days. I can’t even imagine it being taken away from us one day. I reckon if we were still stuck with 56 kb/s dial up internet modems, things would be completely different, in a bad way of course,” he said.

Jameskii currently has over 1.4 million subscribers on YouTube. His videos amass anywhere between 600 thousand and 11 million views, with continuous comments from fans supporting his work. Just last year, he attended the biggest event for video game streamers in the world, Twitchcon, as a Twitch partner, and co-hosted the Jingle Jam 2018, a series of livestreams that are shown over the course of December each year with the intention to raise money for various charities.

With his immense popularity, Jameskii also had the opportunity last year to strike a brand deal with Tencent Games, the world’s largest gaming company, and one of the most valuable technology conglomerates, largest social media companies, and largest venture capital firms and investment corporations in the world.

“When Tencent Games reached out to me with a brand deal I just couldn’t say no. I’m usually down to do brand deals with products I like, use or would recommend to someone, so it was a win-win for everyone really,” he said.

As part of Jameskii’s deal with Tencent, he was asked to make a dedicated promotional video for the game Ring of Elysium. In doing so, he handled everything, including recording gameplay with friends, writing down ideas to setting up skit situations in-game and editing the outcome footage. The result of his efforts turned out to be a hilarious montage of his adventures in the snow land of Ring of Elysium.

“It was pretty much like working on any other video of mine, still the same bizarre style and total hilarious nonsense. I like messing around in games and doing things that aren’t really intended by the developers, so we tried a lot of random stuff like launching cars in the sky for example. The developers really loved my approach which means a lot to me. I love game studios with a sense of humor,” he said.

Tencent games also provided Jameskii with access to hosting his own private lobbies for his viewers. He held multiple games allowing fans to join him during his live streams, inviting his fans to meet him in-game. In one instance, he had over fifty fans joining him for a snowboard race, which is no small feat considering the size of the map, and the fact that the objective of the game is to eliminate other players.

“Even if it’s a brand deal, I can’t see myself making boring videos that aren’t fun for me and my viewers. I always want to be sure my content is enjoyable for everyone,” he said. “This game hadn’t been released in Europe yet, so I loved the fact that I got an early access to the game I was already excited for. I like trying out new games especially with unusual genres or unique mechanics, so it was a fun experience.”

The partnership between Jameskii and Tencent proved fruitful for all parties involved. The video created a vast amount of interest in the game for viewers, bringing many new players to the game that helped jump-start its popularity during the game’s launch in Europe. As of now, it is one of the most popular and most played games according to Steam statistics. Jameskii’s initial video featuring game play has over 800,000 views.

“It’s cool that influencers like me have an ability to jump start new projects. I love discovering and trying out new things, so it’s always awesome to bring life to a new project which allows its creators to do more creative decisions with unpredictable results. Creativity and originality are essential when it comes to entertainment in my opinion. I reckon it would be worse if all games had mechanics that are way too similar because the developers would be afraid to innovate in fear of the project’s failure. Of course, you can always rely on ideas that worked for years, but I think influencers heavily encourage people to try out new things, both when it comes to creation and consumption,” he concluded.

Jameskii is one of YouTube’s most popular video game content creators, and he has no plans on slowing down. Check out his YouTube channel for more funny videos and updates to what promises to be another exciting year.