El Rubius

Early Life and Gaming Roots

Rubén Doblas Gundersen was born in Mijas, Andalusia, Spain, on 13 February 1990. His mother is Norwegian and his father is Spanish. After his parents divorced when he was three, he moved with his mother to Bergen, Norway. He later returned to Madrid for primary and secondary school. The gift of a Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) was a foundational moment, as he has stated it was essential for developing his love for video games and that without it, he would not have reached his later career.

At age 16, his parents separated again and he relocated to Norway to finish his studies. He then returned to Spain with his godfather, a figure he often references in videos. Before entering the world of content creation, he worked as an intern and in a supermarket. He later formalized his technical skills by studying 3D modelling and animation at the Arteneo School in Madrid, an education that would support his future production work.

YouTube Beginnings and Meteoric Rise

El Rubius created his first YouTube channel in 2006, choosing a name that played on his own name and his childhood blonde hair. His first video, a Grand Theft Auto IV montage, was uploaded on 8 December 2006. His consistent uploads began in 2011 with humorous montages and commentaries on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. In January 2012, due to partnership requirements with Machinima Network, he created his main channel, elrubiusOMG, and began reuploading his Skyrim content alongside new videos for games like Battlefield and Happy Wheels.

His popularity exploded in March 2012 with the upload of "Minero", a Minecraft parody of Chayanne's song "Torero". This video became his most viewed, approaching 100 million views. His subscriber growth was rapid. He reached 100,000 subscribers in April 2012, celebrated with a live Q&A stream. By November 2012, he surpassed Willyrex to become the most-subscribed Spanish channel. He hit one million subscribers in February 2013 and two million just two months later. His format of summarizing games in one minute with ironic humor became a viral standard in Spain.

Key to his early growth were collaborations and personal connections. In July 2012, he met fellow Spanish YouTuber Mangel in person, and they later moved to Madrid together under a contract with production company BGames. His collaborations extended to other major creators like Willyrex, helping to build a community of Spanish-speaking gaming content creators.

Expansion into Books, Comics, and Mainstream Media

In 2014, El Rubius expanded beyond video with the publication of El Libro Troll, an interactive book of challenges. It was a commercial success, reaching number one in sales in Spain for eight consecutive weeks and being a bestseller at the Madrid Book Fair. However, it also attracted controversy, with the Superintendencia de Industria y Comercio deeming it unsuitable for children and some parents describing it as sexual. That same year, he made a cameo appearance in the Spanish comedy film Torrente 5.

His creative universe grew with the Virtual Hero comic series. The first volume was published in September 2015 by Planeta. A second volume, Virtual Hero II: La torre imposible, followed in June 2016, and the final part, Virtual Hero III: La máscara del troll, was released in April 2017. This project evolved into a major animated production. In October 2017, he announced the Virtual Hero anime series, a collaboration between Motion Pictures, Jaruyi studio, Movistar+, and Zeppelin TV. The series, following Rubius freeing gamers in a virtual world, premiered in October 2018 as the first anime series released in Spain.

His mainstream recognition grew significantly. He was invited by Ubisoft Spain to E3 in 2013. In 2015, he became the first Spanish YouTuber to reach 10 million subscribers. He gave a notable interview on the Spanish programme Al rincón de pensar in 2015, where he emotionally discussed suffering from depression due to fame. He participated in multiple editions of the Club Media Fest across Latin America. He also collaborated with Hollywood stars, making a promotional video with Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt for Passengers in 2016, and later with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence for Bad Boys for Life in 2020.

Platform Evolution and Streaming Dominance

El Rubius's relationship with live streaming reached a new level in 2018. In March of that year, during a live YouTube broadcast of a Fortnite tournament featuring 100 Spanish-speaking streamers, he achieved a world record with over one million concurrent viewers, surpassing the previous record held by Ninja. This event demonstrated his massive drawing power and his central role in the Spanish-speaking esports community.

Following a hiatus announced in May 2018 due to feeling stress and anxiety from recording, he returned with a changed platform strategy. He announced he would start directing on Twitch and prioritize it over YouTube, which he would treat as a secondary job. He also reactivated his original 2006 YouTube channel, renaming it "Rubius Z" to reupload his Twitch content. This shift was successful, and he became one of the most-followed streamers on Twitch, with the fifth-most-followed channel in the world.

His community engagement on streaming platforms took large-scale forms. In May 2019, Epic Games contacted him to host a Fortnite competition where players speedran a map he created, with a winner's prize of 3 million euros. He continued to use YouTube for major personal announcements and documentaries, such as the October 2018 release of De Rubén a Rubius: un viaje de un Virtual Hero on Movistar+.

Public Challenges and Cultural Influence

El Rubius's career has been marked by public disputes and personal challenges. In February 2016, he denounced the Spanish newspaper El Mundo through a video, accusing them of distorting an interview to sell more copies. He announced he would no longer give press interviews. Later in 2016, he criticized a gossip magazine for leaking photos of him and his partner on vacation, calling the invasion of privacy unacceptable.

He has also been vocal about platform policies. In September 2016, he uploaded a video criticizing YouTube's new anti-censorship rules, deliberately breaking them all in the video, which was subsequently demonetized and age-restricted. His influence was recognized by Time magazine in 2016, which included him in its list of next generation leaders and called him an online conqueror.

His impact extends into gaming and television. He is a playable character in games like YouTurbo (2016) and Watch Dogs: Legion (2020). In 2020, he served as a coach on the Atresmedia talent show Top Gamers Academy. A tweet from his account in 2016, simply saying "Limonada", became a massive community event and was once the most retweeted tweet in the world, illustrating the direct and powerful connection with his audience.