Potentially unpopular opinion, but DSP isn't as invincible as some posts make him sound. No denying that as an e-begger he still does pretty well for himself, but there was a point in time where DSP was genuinely making big YouTube money due to abusing the search algorithm and taking a shotgun quantity over quality approach to the system. And hey, credit where credit is due, he took advantage of a big flaw in the system and made bank.
The problem is that Phil, being his own worst enemy, didn't try and change his approach after YouTube fixed the loopholes. I don't think he was ever going to become PewDiePie levels of big, but I think he could have coasted by for most of his career making solid YouTube money close to what he was making in his algorithm abuse days. I don't know how well he'd fare in present day YouTube, but at the very least he'd have several solid years of income instead of hitting a sharp decline and trying to supplement his living with credit cards.
The other big difference is comfort. Phil hates streaming and interacting with his fans. If he had focused on building his YouTube identity and producing better content, he would have a much more flexible schedule and wouldn't desperately have to play day 1 releases that he hates with the hope of striking gold and getting more people to throw their disability checks at him.
Instead of going out in a giant explosion, Phil is slowly bleeding out. The bleeding is made slower by the fact he was successful once upon a time, allowing him to apply for a bunch of credit cards which act as bandages. It isn't that uncommon for people who got lucky and hit it big to do, it's just that most of those rich people who fall into the debt trap don't livestream the majority of their lives for the internet to see. Closest example I can think of is some of the bigger name Hollywood actors who made millions but ended up going bankrupt when they started going balls to the wall with their spending and couldn't continue to supplement their previously high income levels. Like Phil, if they just made a few pretty simple tweaks to their life, they would not only be fine, but still living pretty comfortable lives.
IMO, that's why Phil is so interesting to watch. Outside of his early success with the algorithm abuse, he has defied logic and made every possible wrong decision, even with both genuine fans and detractors spelling out exactly what he could do to improve his situation. I think he still has at least a few more years left in him, but it sounds like those credit card bandages he slapped on his pig carcass are finally starting to fall apart. I think his genius payment plan option of just not making payments on the condo and hoping it goes away marks the beginning of the end. Again, it is a process that will drag out over the course of several years, and at the end of the day I don't think even that will make him stop streaming. Personally, I think it's more entertaining having Phil slowly burn out versus something like the ProJared situation. Sure, that provided funny content for a couple of days, but then it more or less died down and unless Jared makes another stupid tweet, will probably be forgotten about in a few weeks time. Phil became infamous because he's slowly bleeding instead of going out in a greasy explosion.
