Today, Sykkuno is one of the most recognizable streamers on YouTube. But the reason he started streaming in the first place was because he was at a low point in life, and he was lonely.
“The reason I started streaming was that there was a time in my life where I just did not have any friends at all,” he said during a candid YouTube interview with Anthony Padilla on Sep. 30.
“Basically, I would wake up, I’d go to work, I’d come home, and I’d just play games by myself,” he added. “I had legit zero friends at all. That’s when I started watching a lot of streamers.
It’s a story many people can relate to, including some of his fans. The difference in Sykkuno’s case, though, was that he had a special friend in Lily “LilyPichu” Ki, who played a pivotal role in starting his career.
“I talked to Lily, who’s an old, old friend of mine,” he explained. “She just told me I should start streaming to hang out and hopefully make friends again.” He followed her advice, and it paid off big time.
Sykkuno streamed on the side while undertaking his master’s degree. His laptop was built for studying, not gaming, but it was enough to stream League of Legends, so he started with that.
“That’s pretty much how I started. I actually made a lot of friends that way,” he said. Lily also helped him network with other streamers in her circle. “She introduced me to a lot of people.”
One of them was Valkyrae, who he hilariously met on a Minecraft server after accidentally killing her while trying to save her from a creeper, and they’ve been good friends ever since.
Sykkuno went on to become an integral part of that social circle, especially at the height of the Among Us craze, and he’s been one of the most popular streamers on the planet ever since.
However, based on his comments in the interview, he’s eternally grateful to his friends, especially Lily, for welcoming him aboard with open arms and giving him the opportunity to shine.
