Marcel “MontanaBlack” Eris is one of the most successful streamers on German Twitch. In an interview with ZDF, he spoke about his difficult past and his gaming career. MeinMMO has selected some highlights for you.
Who is MontanaBlack?
- MontanaBlack, short Monte, is one of the most successful German Twitch streamers
- He has over 4.5 million followers, almost 34,000 people watch him on average (via SullyGnome)
- But he wasn’t always so successful, struggling with drugs in his youth and being involved in crime
- In an interview, he spoke very honestly about his journey and his success – which doesn’t come from his gaming skills
You can watch more about MontanaBlack in our video:
This interview is about: On August 24th, ZDF released an interview with MontanaBlack as part of the portrait series “Germania”. The series aims to explore what it means to be German – particularly from the perspective of people with a migration background.
MontanaBlack is the son of a Turkish mother and a German father, but the conversation is about much more than just his background.
MontanaBlack’s success: at the right time in the right place
This is behind his success: MontanaBlack says of himself that he was simply at the right time in the right place. He started uploading videos to YouTube at an early age and has been on Twitch since 2013. It wouldn’t work the same way today.
Because back then, MontanaBlack’s openness was his unique selling point. Everything was much more “repressed,” today everyone talks about everything on the internet. But he spoke openly about his past, his drug use, and his low points even then.
MontanaBlack had great success with games like GTA, Call of Duty and Fortnite and showed a lot of gameplay at a time when hardly anyone seemed to be showing much gaming. Recently, the focus has shifted away from gaming and that cost him quite a few viewers.
However, his success has never had anything to do with his gaming skills:
I was never good at anything, gaming-wise. Not even dogshit, but I never became known for delivering crazy gameplays.
Instead, he was simply close to the audience. Telling people in livestreams what’s going on with him is something he could never give up. Because for him, it’s “not just a hobby, but also a passion and in a way also therapy.”
That’s why he still wants to stream at 50 – if anyone still wants to watch him then. However, he does not want to bend over backwards for his viewers at all.
MontanaBlack is not a fan of exaggerated correctness
That’s why Monte doesn’t want to pretend: Many people have become what their viewers wanted them to be on the internet. But MontanaBlack has always been who he wanted to be.
MontanaBlack’s advantage has been that he wears his heart on his sleeve, being authentic. Although that has backfired before, things used to be a bit more relaxed.
These days, people and the companies behind them want to be politically correct, not say anything wrong. That really annoys him. Therefore, he also doesn’t want to adjust his content.
After all, MontanaBlack is not an educational channel. The responsibility for what children and young people watch always lies with the parents and not with him.
Nevertheless, MontanaBlack has become more mature. He used to confront more, to get more worked up. Today, he just wants his peace and “no more headaches.”
You can watch the 15-minute video on the ZDF website.
At ZDF, MontanaBlack also dispels a rumor. Many fans had long believed he was actually only 23 or 25. This assumption stemmed from a running gag in his streams.
MontanaBlack himself had claimed to be only 25, the 88 in his username comes from the fact that his parents married in 1988. In the video, he introduces himself and states his age as 34, admitting that his parents were never married.
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One topic is very close to MontanaBlack’s heart: Even though he managed to get away from drugs, not all of his friends were so lucky.
MontanaBlack also doesn’t joke about this and banned his own moderator after he promoted drug use in the chat.
