The Twitch streamer Phil “Philza” Watson made a terrible mistake in Minecraft that abruptly ended his 5-year hardcore run in the game. The clip went viral, making Philza famous – he has since quit his job and become a professional Twitch streamer with a much better income.
What was that mistake? In May 2019, Philza was on a hardcore run in Minecraft that had already lasted 5 years. However, in a cave, Philza died shamefully to a baby zombie.
The baby was wearing golden armor, and Philza totally underestimated the fight, igniting the baby zombie with the flaming sword, making it even more dangerous. Then Philza tried to flee, but the escape failed: spiders caught him, Philza died, and his 5-year hardcore run in Minecraft came to an end.
5 years played – and one moment ruins everything
How the death was received: The clip of Philza’s death has now reached 1.4 million views. The idea that someone invested 5 years of their life and it was all ruined by a single moment fascinated many.
The story was a hot topic in the gaming community at the time. Philza was almost an unknown streamer until then. He had maybe 5 to 10 viewers on average – the peak was once 20.
Suddenly, the BBC reported on Philza and his silly death in Minecraft. Viewers became aware of the streamer behind this absurd Minecraft death.
Streamer immediately starts a new hardcore run
How Philza capitalized on his mistake: As PC Gamer reports, Philza then started a new hardcore run in Minecraft on Twitch, aiming to get 100 paying subscribers on Twitch.
After a 24-hour marathon stream, he already had 350. If he gets about $2.50 from each, that would be about $800 (718€) a month.
But it turned out that the first 350 subscribers were just the beginning of something bigger. The streamer not only had short-term success, but it worked. The people who discovered him liked him and his Minecraft streams.
Almost 7000 subscribers on Twitch now
How Philza is doing today: He says he has 6,945 subscribers.
One subscriber pays $4.99 on Twitch, from which the streamer gets about half. Philza would therefore currently make over $17,000 (15,100€) a month just from subscriptions.
The streamer quit his job in sales, which he apparently didn’t like anyway, and is now a full-time streamer. He says he now makes as much money in a month as he did in two years at his old job, plus now he can sleep in.
He isn’t yet really trusting the money he’s making now. Most of it he saves or invests in pizza.
He has only indulged himself in one thing: Minecraft recently crashed during the new hardcore stream. This could have almost meant the end of the run again. Therefore, Philza treated himself to a nice new PC with a strong graphics card and two monitors. He spent about 2000€. The most money he has ever spent on anything, as he says.
All the logistical issues in his relationship are also resolved. Because he lives in the UK, while his fiancée lives in the USA. Previously, finances were a major hurdle: Did they have enough money for forms, did they have enough money for the constant flying back and forth? This is no longer a problem.
Now Philza just has to avoid the baby zombies.
