Is Dunkey for Real? The YouTube Critic Who Became a Game Publisher and Shipped Animal Well

Plenty of YouTubers say they could make a better product than the ones they review. Jason Gastrow, who posts as videogamedunkey, is one of the few who put a company behind it. In September 2022 he announced a publisher, Bigmode, and its first release, Animal Well, became one of 2024’s best-reviewed indie games. This is a sourced look at what happened, and at the parts of his business we could not confirm.

The come-up

According to Wikipedia’s entry on Videogamedunkey, Gastrow was born January 30, 1991, published Flash animations on Newgrounds from 2003, and launched the videogamedunkey channel in 2010. The entry cites Kotaku for a figure of 1.8 million subscribers in September 2015. We read those details on Wikipedia and did not open the underlying articles.

The pitch: “sick of sitting on the sidelines”

On September 22, 2022, Game Developer reported that Gastrow and his wife Leah were founding Bigmode, an indie publishing label. His stated reasons, as quoted there, were that he was “sick of sitting on the sidelines waiting for great games to appear,” and that “Bigmode will be a harmonious continuation of my channel.” He also said the company had “put a lot of effort into making the most developer-friendly contracts possible.” The outlet put the channel at 7.22 million subscribers at the time and noted the announcement was heavy on promotion and light on detail about what Bigmode would actually provide (Game Developer, Chris Kerr, September 22, 2022).

Video Games Chronicle recorded the same launch and the skepticism around it: Noclip’s Danny O’Dwyer said having opinions on games is not a qualification for understanding development, and Vlambeer’s Rami Ismail advised indie developers to demand a large upfront payment before signing. Celeste programmer Noel Berry was more open, saying Gastrow might have a good eye for fun design (VGC, Tom Ivan, September 22, 2022).

Animal Well: the proof of concept

Bigmode’s first game was Animal Well, made by solo developer Billy Basso under the name Shared Memory. Wikipedia’s entry, which cites the 2025 documentary The Making of Animal Well, says Gastrow made a video about the game after its June 2022 Day of the Devs showcase, that Leah Gastrow contacted Basso about the planned label, and that Basso, who had intended to self-publish, agreed to partner (Wikipedia, Animal Well). It released May 9, 2024, on Windows, PlayStation 5 and Switch, and on Xbox that October.

Game Developer’s later technical write-up says Bigmode received Basso’s builds for feedback, the team agreed not to rush the launch, and Basso decided which feedback to take. It quotes Basso describing creative freedom: “It wasn’t so much like I was asking permission ever to do something.” The outlet cites sales estimator Gamalytic reporting more than 300,000 copies on Steam alone (Game Developer, Sam Machkovech, November 13, 2024).

On sales, Wikipedia reports that Basso estimated in August 2024 that the game had sold around 650,000 copies across Windows, PlayStation 5 and Switch, citing Game File. That interview is largely paywalled and we could not open the figure, so treat it as a reported developer estimate, not something we verified. On recognition, Wikipedia lists a win for Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction at the 28th D.I.C.E. Awards and nominations at The Game Awards 2024, among others.

The friction

A critic who owns a publisher invites a conflict-of-interest question, and his audience can move markets. Wikipedia, citing Kotaku and GamesRadar+ coverage from November 2022, says his critical Sonic Frontiers video was followed by review-bombing on Metacritic, which he said he did not intend and blamed on Sonic fans. We found these accounts through search summaries and did not read the full articles, so we describe the episode only in outline. The lesson for brands is practical: his reach is real enough to be a risk as well as an asset.

The money

We could not source Dunkey’s income to the standard this site requires. Wikipedia repeats a Washington Post figure of up to $1.7 million a year, but the Post blocked our fetch and we found no second outlet we could open, so we do not print it. Net-worth pages for him are content-farm material and we ignore them. What is documented is structural: a channel, a merchandise shop run with Leah, and since 2022 a publishing company whose finances are not public. No Animal Well revenue figure from Bigmode is available to us either; one third-party estimator puts Steam revenue far higher than the developer’s own unit estimate, which is exactly why modelled numbers should not be quoted as fact.

The numbers, as of October 2026

Wikipedia’s infobox, last updated September 12, 2026, lists 7.57 million YouTube subscribers and 4.34 billion views. That is a single source, not corroborated across three outlets, so read it as approximate. Subscriber counts also say nothing about whether viewers are active or real.

What our checker would add, and why we didn’t run it

YouTube is one of the two platforms our free authenticity checker can score. We did not run it for this piece, so nothing here states or implies a score for his channel. You can run it at /check/youtube/videogamedunkey; the methodology explains what it does and does not measure.

The bottom line

“Is Dunkey legit?” has a documented answer on the narrow question of whether he followed through: two outlets recorded the Bigmode launch in September 2022, and Animal Well shipped under that label in 2024 to strong reviews and awards. What remains unconfirmed is the money, and the open question of how much of the game’s success was his audience versus Basso’s work. Both are worth keeping separate.

Sources: Game Developer (September 22, 2022); VGC (September 22, 2022); Game Developer (November 13, 2024); Wikipedia, Videogamedunkey; Wikipedia, Animal Well.