Marcel “Staiy” Krustin is a German YouTuber known for his reaction videos. He is now nominated for the German Video Game Award as “Gamer of the Year 2025.” Currently, Staiy is under criticism and is not exactly known for his gaming content.
What is this award? The award for “Gamer of the Year” is presented as part of the “German Video Game Award” (DCP).
It is an unprized award given by a jury. The accolade aims to honor eSports players, let’s players, or gamers who have distinguished themselves with special achievements. It is not only about performing a gaming feat but also about commitment to the medium of games, the community, or society. The award recipient should explicitly be associated with gaming.
In 2023, the award made headlines when the streamer Shurjoka was crowned Gamer of the Year, which drew critics claiming she was not even a gamer but primarily creates political content. In the years that followed, this turned into a never-ending dispute.
HandOfBlood was Germany’s Gamer of the Year 2022:
These are the 5 nominees for the Gamer of the Year award
Who is nominated this year? The 5 nominees this year are:
- The historian and Twitch streamer Steinwallen, known for strategy games. We reported on MeinMMO that he has positioned himself against the Germany expansion of Hearts of Iron
- The influencer Staiy, known primarily for his reaction videos, in which he harshly criticizes other creators. He was centrally involved in a debate about how much YouTubers should pay their staff, the editors.
- The podcaster Dom Schott, who conducts interviews with developers and media creators in his format “Ok Cool.” Schott previously worked for GamePro, which, like MeinMMO, belongs to Webedia. The current award winner for Gamer of the Year, Maurice Weber, also works for Webedia.
- Lunarie, who works as a caster in eSports and advocates for the promotion of women in eSports.
- JustNoahDe, a content creator from Austria, known for his content on Minecraft, but he also collaborates with ARD.
Staiy is under criticism for his harsh demeanor
Why is this particularly critical for Staiy? Staiy is currently involved in a controversy with YouTuber Alicia Joe. The opinion blogger has accused him of not creating content himself but instead criticizing others’ content and using “outrage” as a business model.
She felt misrepresented by an aggressive thumbnail, which she described as “abominable.” Staiy later changed the thumbnail.
Staiy has repeatedly stated that he no longer reacts to Alicia Joe’s content because it does not interest him and makes him angry. However, he has continually reacted to her videos. Alicia Joe felt that he was deliberately attacking her through his content.
Moreover, it is questionable whether there is a gaming reference with Staiy, which should actually be a prerequisite for the award. While Staiy has his own YouTube channel dedicated to gaming, it is not his flagship channel.
Staiy’s gaming channel is filled only rather sparsely.
But actually, he is more known for political and social content:
How much gaming does Staiy show on Twitch? On Twitch, Staiy was active for a total of 1,403 hours in the last 365 days, of which he spent 1,087 in the “Just Chatting” category.
His other major categories were “Dungeons and Dragons” (134 hours), “SUPERVIVE” (20 hours), and Norland (18 hours).
In contrast, while Steinwallen was active for “only” 490 hours on Twitch, he spent most of his time gaming: 94 hours in Just Chatting compared to 90 hours in Jagged Alliance 3, 59 hours in Civilization VII, 33 hours in Victoria 3, and many hours in other games.
Lunarie_TTV and JustNoahDe have spent almost all their hours on Twitch in games, especially in Minecraft.
The impression arises that the award for “Gamer of the Year” has more to do with the political orientation of the candidates than with gaming. This has already offended streamers in the past who went home empty-handed at similar award ceremonies: MontanaBlack complains about an award he does not win, and about the “left-dilapidated” Twitch about HandofBlood
