My biggest hurdle was explaining to my parents what I wanted to do and how I can make a career in it: Anshu “Gamerfleet” Bisht

Success as a video game content creator didn’t come to Anshu Bisht and his channel Gamerfleet in a fortnight.

His road to 300k+ subscribers was laid with some of the toughest hurdles, and Gamerfleet had to grind for years before reaching the notoriety he has today.

With just a bit of luck along the way, and chance encounters with some of the most notable faces in the industry, Gamerfleet has grown to be one of the biggest video game YouTube channels in India.

In an exclusive conversation with Sportskeeda Esports’ Abhishek Mallick, Anshu opens up about the initial years of Gamerfleet and what inspires him to keep grinding even today.

Here is an excerpt of the conversation.

Q. Anshu, why don’t we start by having you tell our readers a bit about yourself. Who is Anshu Bisht outside the persona of GamerFleet?

Gamerfleet: I’m just an introvert who gets awkward in most social gatherings. I am a different person filled with confidence and fun when it comes to GamerFleet, but I’m very shy when I’m Anshu.

Q. Can you shed light on some of the thoughts and visions that went behind your YouTube channel? How did you get started, and what inspired you at the time to keep grinding against all odds?

Gamerfleet: So, it was back in 2017 when I got my first Jio sim and entered the world of YouTube. I consumed a lot of content, and after watching some of the gaming video creators like Hemant_t & Pewdiepie, I wanted to do something like them. In the first year, I didn’t even know I could earn money from it, too. It was pure passion and love.

Q. Tell us about some of the hurdles that you faced along the way. What were some of the biggest challenges that your channel had to overcome during the nascent months?

Gamerfleet: The biggest one has to be explaining to my parents what I wanted to do and how I can make this a career. As I’m from a family background, where education was meant to be my priority, my parents wanted to give me all they never had.

So it was pretty hard to explain that I wanted to play games while I would earn from it. The second has to be me buying a PC on my own after completing school.

I'm from a lower-middle-class family where my father makes roughly 15k per month, so I could not demand such things from him. So, I gave tuition to elementary school children, saved money for six months, and bought a second-hand pc for around 7k.

Q. There was a sudden boom in viewership and subscriptions on your channel, right after you won the Fall Guys tournament against some of the top Indian YouTubers. Can you walk us through the event and how you felt about the success that followed?

Gamerfleet: I was actually introduced to Fall Guys by Samay Raina, and to be honest, and in the beginning, I was playing it just to impress him.

Later, I got to know that Tanmay Bhat gave my name to NODWIN for this tournament. So I was basically the YouTuber with the least subscribers in the roaster and known only by a few.

So, playing in the tournament alongside all the creators I’ve seen itself was a massive deal for me, but my goal was always to win the tournament and make Tanmay bhai feel that he didn’t make a mistake giving my name among such prominent YouTubers. So, I felt relieved after it, and it changed a lot of things for me.

Q. Talk to us about some of your fondest gaming experiences. What was the first game you have ever played?

Gamerfleet: My first few games, which I played on my Pentium 4, were Project IGI, Age of Empire, and Age of Mythology. My fondest gaming experience has to be my PC being able to run Assassin's Creed 3 in 24-25 FPS.

Q. I am aware that your YouTube persona, "Gamerfleet," was inspired by Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag. What about the game stood out so much that it inspired you to base your channel off it?

Gamerfleet: I have always been a huge fan of the franchise, and I have played a lot of Assassin's Creed. Assassin's Creed 4 was the first game where you could take a ship and fight around the ocean, unlike the previous version where you could just send them out.

I learned the word FLEET from AC4, and I was amazed that I never knew it. So I named my channel Gamer’s Fleet but later on thought that it was a tricky name to search, so I settled on GamerFleet

Q. What’s the atmosphere like back at home? What do your parents think about your success as a YouTuber?

Gamerfleet: I used to get scolded a lot for making YouTube content back in the days. I even had to do some jobs that I didn’t like, where I had to work 21 hours a day sometimes just so that I could continue on YouTube.

But I never gave up, and now, my parents are delighted. They still can’t understand what I do, neither can they explain it to relatives, but they are happy now, especially my father.

Q. Apart from creating some of the most entertaining and hilarious content for your channel, are there any other career options that you are looking into at this moment?

Gamerfleet: I just want to keep doing what I do, evolve, and put out more and more content that no one has seen yet. So no, I’m looking at content creation as my final career.

Q. You have created content on a plethora of video games. From WWE to Pokemon Moon to Fall Guys, the genre of video games you deal with is incredibly versatile. Which game would you say was the most challenging to create videos on? And which was the most fun?

Gamerfleet: Fall Guys has to be one of the most fun games I’ve ever played, while Minecraft is the most creative one. Games that none or only a few creators have made videos on are the most challenging, as you don’t have anyone to take reference from or have just a raw idea of the game.

Q. What were some of the most memorable videos that you created?

Gamerfleet: My first-ever headset review on my channel back from 2017 has to be it, as I was so shy and gave commentary in English with a terrible accent, that too, in front of my cousin. Ufff, major throwback!!!

Q. You are often hailed as one of the best Fall Guys players in India, and you have also made a lot of content on it. What about the games attracts you so much?

Gamerfleet: The game was quite unique when launched, where everyone who looked at it felt like what an easy game and when played could hardly even win one game out of 100. And everything just in general was cute and funny, making it stick out from all the FPS and RPG titles we see everywhere.

Q. How do you feel about the future of Fall Guys, now that Epic Games have brought the game’s developers, Tonic Games Group, under their wings?

Gamerfleet: Season 4 of Fall Guys is just epic, but I’m not sure enough if the game can make that giant leap again since it’s kind of repetitive for the viewers to watch, and there’s no end goal. I hope Epic Games can work on that and introduce a sort of rank and leaderboard system to the game.

Q. What vision of the future do you have for GamerFleet? What can fans expect from the channel in the coming months?

Gamerfleet: I have a lot of content planned for GamerFleet, where I will focus on putting out more vlogs on the channel.

Q. You have often collaborated with other notable YouTube and pop culture personalities. What was your experience like when working with other talented content creators from the industry? What were some of the best moments from these collaborations?

Gamerfleet: To be honest, at first, I can't believe that I'm going to collaborate with this person and go into a fanboy zone. Right before I start the stream or start recording, I just calm myself down and get ready to put on a show.

The best moment has to be one where I played Minecraft with CarryMinati in his stream. I mean, it’s CarryMinati, and we are in one world playing Minecraft, building stuff, trolling each other. Then, playing with Tanmay Bhat, Samay Raina, Karan Singh Magic, Mythpat, Triggered Insaan, and Techno Gamerz was a very big dream come true for me.

Q. Before we sign-off, are there any words of wisdom you would like to share with upcoming Indian content creators who are still struggling to make a name for themselves in the scene?

Gamerfleet: I’ve seen many new creators who have just started YouTube and have not even completed two years or less. They want everything instantly, instead of working for it and making their content better and mature with time.

They want that one shoutout from prominent creators to get overnight success. I just want to say no one will give it to you, no one will work for you, or no one will pay, for that person has to create better content than others. So just keep grinding, take inspiration, follow your idols, observe them and keep on evolving yourself until you make it.