The New York Times retrospectively noted that around 2015, Kjellberg's video content experienced a change in style: "he began to take more risks.
He continued playing video games, but he started experimenting.
He did viral challenges, made fun of other YouTubers, and reviewed meme submissions from his fans."
Kjellberg has attributed his content around this time as a result of immaturity, boredom with playing video games, YouTube's platform incentives, and the belief that his channel's growth had plateaued.
One video cited as being representative of this change featured Kjellberg reading erotic fan fiction about characters from the Disney film Frozen.
Then-CEO of The Walt Disney Company Bob Iger was reportedly angered by the video, putting Kjellberg's deal with Maker Studios, a Disney subsidiary, in jeopardy.

During September 2015, Kjellberg teased about having a role in a web television series, stating that he was in Los Angeles for the show's shooting.
Although not many details were revealed at the time, it was later announced that the series would be an original YouTube Red series titled Scare PewDiePie.
The series premiered the following February.

In January 2016, Kjellberg announced a partnership with Maker Studios to produce Revelmode, a sub-network of Maker, that would showcase Kjellberg and his friends on YouTube in original series.
After the deal, the head of Maker Studios, Courtney Holt, stated, "we're thrilled to be doubling down with Felix."
Along with Kjellberg, eight other YouTubers signed to the network upon its creation: CinnamonToastKen, Marzia, Dodger, Emma Blackery, Jacksepticeye, Jelly, Kwebbelkop, and Markiplier.
Three YouTubers – Cryaotic, KickThePJ and Slogoman – would later join the sub-network after its launch.

Throughout 2016, Kjellberg's video style change became more apparent.
While producing fewer Let's Play videos about horror games, his style of humour changed; he commented that he had shifted to drier humour, which was often not understood by younger viewers.
He examined his older videos and while noting the stylistic changes he had undergone, he expressed specific regret for his casual use of words like gay or retarded in a derogatory sense.
In December 2016, Kotaku's Patricia Hernandez wrote about his stylistic changes, explaining that "over the last year, the PewDiePie channel has also had an underlying friction, as Kjellberg slowly distances himself from many of the things that made him famous.
He's doing fewer Let's Plays of horror games like Amnesia, and adding, "the PewDiePie of 2016 can still be immature, sure, but [...] a defining aspect of recent PewDiePie videos is existential angst, as he describes the bleak reality of making content for a machine he cannot fully control or understand."

On 2 December, he uploaded a video in which he discussed his frustration with the issue of YouTube accounts experiencing an unexplained loss of subscribers and views.
He expressed many people working with YouTube "have no idea of the struggles that came with being a content creator."
On this issue, a Google representative provided a comment to Ars Technica, stating "Some creators have expressed concerns around a drop in their subscriber numbers.
We've [...] found there have been no decreases in creators subscriber numbers beyond what normally happens when viewers either unsubscribe from a creator's channel or when YouTube removes spammed subscribers".
As Kjellberg's channel approached 50 million subscribers, he stated he would delete his channel once it reached the milestone.
On 8 December, his channel reached 50 million subscribers, becoming the first YouTube channel to do so.
On 18 December 2016, he received a custom Play Button from YouTube as a reward for reaching this milestone.
Ultimately, Kjellberg did not delete his PewDiePie channel, and instead deleted a smaller second channel he had then-recently created.
In addition, he expressed discontent over YouTube's changing algorithm negatively affecting viewership for content creators.
In February 2017, his channel's total video view count was
The New York Times retrospectively noted that around 2015, Kjellberg's video content experienced a change in style: "he began to take more risks. He continued playing video games, but he started experimenting. He did viral challenges, made fun of other YouTubers, and reviewed meme submissions from his fans." Kjellberg has attributed his content around this time as a result of immaturity, boredom with playing video games, YouTube's platform incentives, and the belief that his channel's growth had plateaued. One video cited as being representative of this change featured Kjellberg reading erotic fan fiction about characters from the Disney film Frozen. Then-CEO of The Walt Disney Company Bob Iger was reportedly angered by the video, putting Kjellberg's deal with Maker Studios, a Disney subsidiary, in jeopardy.
During September 2015, Kjellberg teased about having a role in a web television series, stating that he was in Los Angeles for the show's shooting. Although not many details were revealed at the time, it was later announced that the series would be an original YouTube Red series titled Scare PewDiePie. The series premiered the following February.
In January 2016, Kjellberg announced a partnership with Maker Studios to produce Revelmode, a sub-network of Maker, that would showcase Kjellberg and his friends on YouTube in original series. After the deal, the head of Maker Studios, Courtney Holt, stated, "we're thrilled to be doubling down with Felix." Along with Kjellberg, eight other YouTubers signed to the network upon its creation: CinnamonToastKen, Marzia, Dodger, Emma Blackery, Jacksepticeye, Jelly, Kwebbelkop, and Markiplier. Three YouTubers – Cryaotic, KickThePJ and Slogoman – would later join the sub-network after its launch.
Throughout 2016, Kjellberg's video style change became more apparent. While producing fewer Let's Play videos about horror games, his style of humour changed; he commented that he had shifted to drier humour, which was often not understood by younger viewers. He examined his older videos and while noting the stylistic changes he had undergone, he expressed specific regret for his casual use of words like gay or retarded in a derogatory sense. In December 2016, Kotaku's Patricia Hernandez wrote about his stylistic changes, explaining that "over the last year, the PewDiePie channel has also had an underlying friction, as Kjellberg slowly distances himself from many of the things that made him famous. He's doing fewer Let's Plays of horror games like Amnesia, and adding, "the PewDiePie of 2016 can still be immature, sure, but [...] a defining aspect of recent PewDiePie videos is existential angst, as he describes the bleak reality of making content for a machine he cannot fully control or understand."
On 2 December, he uploaded a video in which he discussed his frustration with the issue of YouTube accounts experiencing an unexplained loss of subscribers and views. He expressed many people working with YouTube "have no idea of the struggles that came with being a content creator." On this issue, a Google representative provided a comment to Ars Technica, stating "Some creators have expressed concerns around a drop in their subscriber numbers. We've [...] found there have been no decreases in creators subscriber numbers beyond what normally happens when viewers either unsubscribe from a creator's channel or when YouTube removes spammed subscribers". As Kjellberg's channel approached 50 million subscribers, he stated he would delete his channel once it reached the milestone. On 8 December, his channel reached 50 million subscribers, becoming the first YouTube channel to do so. On 18 December 2016, he received a custom Play Button from YouTube as a reward for reaching this milestone. Ultimately, Kjellberg did not delete his PewDiePie channel, and instead deleted a smaller second channel he had then-recently created. In addition, he expressed discontent over YouTube's changing algorithm negatively affecting viewership for content creators. In February 2017, his channel's total video view count was
PewDiePie