The influencer and host Simon Krätschmer is firmly rooted in German gaming and someone whom many gamers around 30 associate with their youth. In the 2000s, the now 46-year-old was a host at GIGA and later created the show GameOne. Since 2015, he has been with RocketBeans TV on and off. But now he is addressing the fans in a video.
These are his financial struggles: Krätschmer is facing similar financial difficulties as the Twitch streamer Tanzverbot:
Krätschmer earned well in previous years but did not immediately settle the tax bill back then.
In recent years, his income has significantly decreased.
Now the tax office is demanding a huge tax payment for the “good years”, which Krätschmer cannot easily pay.
Simon Krätschmer has about 440 viewers on Twitch – in 2021, it was an average of 2,000:
He has the money, but doesn’t want to sell at a loss
This is what he says about his situation: Krätschmer says (via youtube) that while he has the money the tax wants, that money is tied up in investments, cryptocurrencies, stocks, and ETFs, in which he is currently at a loss because everything is crashing. Therefore, he is reluctant to sell the investments at this time.
The high demand from the tax office has caught him off guard and it weighs heavily on him; he hasn’t been able to sleep either. Although he names some individuals who have acted poorly and are involved in his current financial difficulties, he also says that ultimately, it was his mistake.
Therefore, he asks his community that if they ever wanted to buy something from him to support him, now is the ideal time for that:
You don’t have to help me, but right now I could really use some money. If you ever wanted to buy anything, now is a good time.
The 46-year-old says he thought: if others ask their fans for money, why shouldn’t he?
Then he talks about the “good years” when he earned €300,000. Times when he still had 4,000 viewers and plenty of advertising deals.
Viewers talk about the steep fall
How is this being discussed? In the comments on YouTube, Krätschmer has to hear quite a bit, and on Reddit, his video is discussed critically. It is often read that he is begging for money. A post on Reddit about Rocketbeans is titled “BeggarMon”.
In one YouTube comment, there is talk of a “steep fall”. Many say they have followed Krätschmer for 20 years, have been big fans, but the video and his behavior in recent years come off as unsympathetic. He, as someone with a lot of money, is asking his fans for support.
Some viewers in the comments on YouTube express their annoyance at the audacity of the influencer to ask his fans for money because he refuses to liquidate his assets. One says: “If I can live on €500, you can do it too.”
Another user states: “I don’t even know what’s worse. Rich people living off donations or the people who donate money to rich people.”
A consequence to save money is something Krätschmer is already doing:
Krätschmer feels misunderstood and says on Twitter that it was not meant that way. His video is being used as a template to “trash talk about his life”. It is too exhausting for him. He is also a person. Several years ago, we reported about a colleague of Simon Krätschmer from RocketBeans on MeinMMO: German gaming influencer causes a shitstorm on Twitter
