Content creator Tectone first carved a name for himself in the streaming community through games like Genshin Impact, but has undergone several content evolutions since entering the gaming scene. A recent partnership with the media organization One True King has expanded his horizons even further, and the creator has several projects beginning in 2023. With over 700,000 subscribers, Tectone has amassed a large community of fans for which he produces an increasingly wide variety of content.
One True King is home to several popular streamers like Mizkif and Asmongold, with Tectone joining the creator network in 2021. However, Tectone’s content has also expanded beyond OTK, with the streamer recently launching both a new podcast and game show. The podcast, entitled Steak and Eggs, stars Tectone alongside creators Asmongold and Emiru, with big plans for special guests in the future. While the podcast has quite a relaxed atmosphere, Tectone’s game show Emote Only is all about hilarious chaos as contestants try to answer questions and act out answers all centered around emotes.
Tectone sat down with Screen Rant to discuss his history with gaming and Genshin Impact, his desire to constantly evolve his content, and what fans can expect from him in the future.
Screen Rant: Can you talk a little bit about your history with gaming?
Tectone: Oh, yeah. Well, I’ve been gaming since I was a kid. I can remember like, you know when you were a little baby, and you have mixed memories of like, what actually happened when you were two or three? I vaguely remember playing this big black console with this game called Earthworm Jim, and an X-Men game. So I’ve been gaming since I was a kid. My parents were never in the picture, so I was kind of raised by like the N64 and the GameCube. Instead, I used to call the Deku Tree from Ocarina of Time my dad. [Laughs] So gaming’s in my blood.
How did that sort of transfer into streaming work? When was the crossover connect there?
Tectone: I remember it specifically, because I was in college, and I was about to graduate from a two-year program of interactive media and 3D web development. And I wasn’t like the top of my class, but for my video game theory final, I was assigned to make a video essay, so I did one on Banjo Kazooie. I did like a 16-minute essay on Banjo Kazooie. And then I realized, “Wait a minute – I just made my first YouTube video. This is awesome.”
And then I go to talk to my buddy Shane – who’s a cop now, which is pretty cool, because I’ve known him since I was a kid as well – and I was playing a mobile game on Discord talking about Banjo Kazooie and the article I made. And my buddy Shane said – because I was streaming a live video game to him while we were talking – he said, “Dude, if you were to go live on Twitch and do the exact same thing that you do with me on Discord on a stream, you would blow up immediately.”
And literally the next day I dropped out of college two weeks before I’m gonna graduate, because I’m gonna be real, I wasn’t gonna use my degree anyways. I just started streaming on Twitch, and no joke, immediately it worked out. I was never a zero viewer streamer, I always had viewers no matter what, and I consider myself very fortunate for that, because my friends were so supportive, they would chill with me and talk all the time and give me a constant flow of chat. So yeah, pretty much since college, probably 2018.
You’re going through something of a content evolution right now, you’ve got your new game show and the new podcast. Can you talk about where you feel like you’re going content-wise this year?
Tectone: Sure. I mean, when talking about where I’m going, it’s always important to talk about where I was coming from. And I was from Genshin Impact, as and a lot of other mobile games, and I don’t want to ever see, like I’m not grateful for that. But a lot of content creators kind of get locked and pigeon-holed into an area, people want to put content creators in a box. And I’m currently trying to find a way out of that box and do more things, like variety and all that jazz.
So like game shows, lots of IRL streams. I want to blow things up, like one stream idea I have is I want to bring a microwave into a desert, and then just put random s*** in it and see if I can make it explode, that would be super fun. I also just did a stream where I built a cannon on stream, and I’ll be real that went horribly. [Laughs] It was actually so funny. I just like doing crazy s***. It’s kind of like, you know, some other streamers who bring like, a deep fryer into their bedroom and see what they can do in there. But just kind of pushing the limits on what I can and can’t get away with, just doing dumb s*** in real life I think is always the funnest.
And as much as I love video games – and I do still plan on doing like the hardest games in the industry like the Souls series, which for some reason I’m insane at, because I played Bloodborne and I beat the hardest boss in one try completely blind. And I was so good at it people thought I was actually cheating, which I will always take as a compliment because I’ll be real I thought I was s***. But yeah, just kind of trying to push the limit of the streaming space. And I also have a really cool other content idea that I’m not sure I should about to talk about here, but I can if you want me to. But I’m just trying to push the boundaries of what people do and don’t do on Twitch.
I’d like to hear about it if you can talk about it.
Tectone: Okay, so do you know what a subathon is?
Oh yeah, you’re starting one like today, right? March 1?
Tectone: So I was going to, until I had a way cooler idea. What I want to do is I want to start a subathon where the moment I start, I lock myself out of my house, and I can’t go back inside my home until the subathon is over. Because I lived on the streets for well over a year, like I didn’t even have a house or nothing, I was homeless for about a year. And revisiting that, but with deciding how long my chat wants me to be homeless would be so funny to me. [Laughs] So I’m currently trying to figure out if that’s even possible before I do my subathon, because I think that would be super fun to do. It’ll be a little bit dangerous, but that’s okay.
In terms of the game show, can you talk a little bit about the inspiration behind it? Why the three different rounds that you chose and that sort of thing?
Tectone: Oh, yeah, Emote Only – although, I’ll be real, I thought that show was gonna suck. [Laughs] And so did everybody else. But what I realized about game shows and content in general is that if you’re heart’s in it, people feel that. So like, even though I feel like we could do so much more with Emote Only – and we will for sure, because it’s been an insane success, actually to a shocking degree. Like more people watched that than I would have ever dreamed and I’m so grateful for that.
But the reason why I chose those three rounds is because for Emote Only, it wasn’t about really making a game show and focusing on that, it was more like creating an environment for people to be comfortable and excited, and also compelled to want to win. And I think when all three of those things combine, just good, fun s*** happens. Because before every episode, the contestants are there for a reason, it wasn’t like picking four people from whoever could show up; it was that I’m going to pick these specific four people because I know that their dynamic would be hilarious. And you’ve seen that with every episode so far.
Like for example, the first one is Lord Aethelstan and Nyanners, who are two of my favorite VTubers of all time. And they’re actually dating, so I already know their dynamic is crazy. And then you have Asmongold and Emiru, two people who have a podcast together, and their dynamic is amazing. And they’re on my Steak and Eggs as well, the greatest podcast of all time with only two episodes; just trust me, it’s really good. But yeah, so the reason why we have those three designs is one, the first two rounds are just to get the brain juices flowing, you know, guess a couple emotes get the trivia going. And then the third round is where it kind of really starts taking off by like, trying to draw an emote, and by that time they’re comfortable, so they’re okay with messing up.
That’s the most important thing for me is to have a show where people know that it’s okay if they do bad, because that’s hilarious. And so kind of catering that environment of being comfortable and being excited and having fun is super good, because it just makes it a really good moment when people can mess up, make an absolute fool of themselves, but they know that everybody there is having fun and everybody’s okay with doing that. Which makes them beautiful moments, especially when they realized the twist on round four where they have to do even dumber s*** and they have to act out previous emotes, which makes for beautiful clippable moments. So yeah, it’s just about making the contestants comfortable enough to do dumb s*** on stream.
I feel like comfortability in a way is kind of a core part of your brand, you can see it in Steak and Eggs as well, where you guys are sitting around in comfy clothes just chatting. There’s something very communal about that as well, and you can see it in the game show too.
Tectone: Oh, yeah, one hundred percent. I mean, with me, and content creators alike, you know how it goes – there’s a lot of inauthenticity in some people’s feelings toward you. But I mean, I’m 29 years old, I’m turning 30 next year, and I don’t really have time for that anymore. So every person that I do content with I consider a close friend, or at least a good person who I can see becoming one; and I’m a pretty good read of people, because I have to be. Like me, Emiru, Asmongold, we’re very good friends, we respect each other a lot.
Respect and vulnerability and honesty with each other is very important to me, because, you know, one day I’m not going to be a content creator anymore, and I don’t want to ever consider any of my time wasted on anybody, being deceived by their intentions and all that stuff. So just knowing that I surround myself with good people to make good content is very important, because when I do retire eventually, I still want to have the same relationships that I’ve had in the space that I do out of the space.
Do you feel like over time in your streaming the way that you’ve worked to sort of keep your fans happy has changed over time? Especially with really passionate communities like the Genshin community, I know that it can be really challenging to make everyone happy, and it seems like you’ve shifted from that over time.
Tectone: Oh, yeah, man. It was hard. Because when you have a fan base of that caliber with so many people, you literally cannot please everyone. There’s just no way, right? Yeah, I tried my hardest, and to a degree I think I made some really good content in that space. But eventually, as you know with all games, eventually the content dries up, and there’s only so much that you can do. So I think I had my time in that community, and eventually I might go back, but for right now, I feel like I enjoyed the time in that space the best I can.
Moving forward from there, I kinda just want to do more things for the people who enjoyed my Genshin content for me, not so much the video game in the background; just try to make the best content possible with the people who enjoy being in there with me.
How did your partnership with OTK first come about? And how have things evolved since then?
Tectone: Oh, man, so I was playing Genshin as well as Persona on stream, and one of the members of OTK would just come into my chat every now and then and they would talk to me about how much they loved my content. And they even asked if they can be my editor, for real, and I thought they were trolling. Then eventually they brought me into a call with Tips [Out] and Asmongold, and I was like, “Y’all aren’t gonna ask me to join your org right?” And Tips says, I remember, “No, we are man, we are,” and I said, “Okay, s***! You don’t even gotta to pay me bro. I’ll join for free.”
So I was so happy that day, and my expectations on what I thought OTK would be once I joined were met and surpassed. I love these guys so much, they’ve done so much for me on and off stream. They’ve just supported me like my content and even more importantly my mental health. Like, good God, I mean, I would do anything for these guys. They’re more than just colleagues, they really are some of my best friends. I love this org so much, I love these people so much, it’s hard to not get emotional just thinking about of all the hard times that I’ve gone through and knowing that they’ve had my back for all that s*** and they just mean the world to me. And I mean that, I love those guys so much.
How do you feel like your content has evolved since you became a part of OTK?
Tectone: I feel like it’s gone absolutely nuts. [Laughs] I just go live and do the dumbest s*** ever. I actually did a whole RP stream where I role played as my chat’s boyfriend for like, two and a half hours. And I had my buddy as cameraman, but they weren’t allowed to talk because they had to act like they were my chat, so they had to communicate to me by like shaking the camera up for yes and shaking the camera left the right for no. It was so funny, it was two and a half hours of absolute insanity. I’ll be real, role playing in public on stream to a camera, like kissing my camera in public, was the weirdest s***.
And I had to do that stream because my chat wanted to do that, and it was a punishment because we reached a certain sub. Well, I don’t want to say punishment – it was a special event that they unlocked by subbing X amount of times on my stream. And just when I thought that I could move forward from the embarrassment, Mizkif reacted to my VOD for five hours! And his community made a whole bunch of edits to my content, and it was so funny. So it went from one of the most embarrassing streams of my life to now being like kind of like a permanent meme that I don’t think anybody will ever forget, because I just did so much dumb s*** that stream. It’s so funny.
Yeah, like you mentioned before, just testing the limits of streaming as a medium.
Tectone: Oh, yeah, one hundred percent. I’m trying to be an innovator. I don’t want to just think, “Okay, what have people done? What works?” I just want to do literally everything and try to find something new until it sticks, because I really don’t like just being like, “Oh, okay, well, this person did that and they got crazy views.” I’d rather discover a meta, because when my career’s over, I really don’t want to be forgotten.
I really do want to leave a mark on the industry, and maybe create something for other creators to do in the future. Because when I get comments like “Tectone, you inspired me to become a streamer” or “Tectone, you inspired me to do X or Y,” it means the world to me. I’m just trying to leave a mark on the industry and my community is very, very, very important, because I would really like to not be forgotten. But yeah, that’s just kind of what I’m doing.
Besides this potential outdoor subathon, is there anything that you’re really looking forward to that’s coming up? Either for the podcast or the game show or anything else?
Tectone: Oh, yeah. I mean, some of the guests that we have for the Steak and Eggs podcast, aka the greatest podcast on Earth, some of the guests that we’re having are people who I’ve looked up to since I was like a kid. I don’t want to go into it too much, but the people who I get to bring on and have a nice casual conversation with is pretty insane. The lineup we have is nuts.
We’ve already recorded one episode with someone who I care about a lot, and it went better than I ever thought, and it’s really starting to make me think that we do have even more than I already expected to have with Emiru and Asmongold. Because I knew that we all respected each other a lot and I knew that we cared about each other, I knew the environment was going to be great. But being able to so seamlessly bring in other creators in the space onto our podcast and make them feel just as comfortable as us in order to get to the conversations that maybe wouldn’t be had in other means is so cool. I mean, sky’s really the limit for Steak and Eggs, and some of the game show ideas I have as well I’m really excited for. Do you mind if I touch on another idea that I have for a game show?
That would be great.
Tectone: So I have another idea for a game show where I want to have two creators go head-to-head and build stuff. Like first, for example, go head to build a science project volcano that explodes, have two creators build a potato cannon and whoever shoots the potato farthest wins. Creators maybe make their own fireworks – which surely won’t end disastrously. [Laughs] I’m actually not even sure if that’s legal. No, no, maybe we don’t do that. I’ll check all the legalities of that later.
And then I have another one where I want to do a Boy Scout competition, I want to call it One True Scout where I get four creators to go head-to-head with Boy Scout activities and see who the best 35-year-old, middle-aged, going through a midlife crisis Boy Scout will be.
What kind of Boy Scout tasks, like rope tying and that sort of thing?
Tectone: Yeah, rope tying, making a fire, escorting old ladies across the street. You know, stuff like that. I think it’d be super cute. Maybe rescuing a drowning person. [Laughs] Now alI we’ve got to do is find somebody who’s drowning and we can get that idea underway.
In terms of games, I know you mentioned you’ll keep playing hard, Souls-like games. Do you have any in particular that you see becoming a part of your rotation in the next few months?
Tectone: Well, one I kind of want to do something like Esfand, because he does this thing called Boomer Month – also, shout out to Esfand, I love that guy so much. He does a thing called Boomer Month where he goes back and plays really old retro games, but him and I’s idea of retro games are very different. So while he’s doing things like Metal Gear Solid, I want to do things like Banjo Kazooie, Conker’s Bad Fur Day, Viva Pinata, lots of rare titles.
Playing games of the golden age. because they don’t make games like they used to, with the odd exception of things like Like a Dragon: Ishin, as well as a Pinocchio Souls-like coming out, I’m actually not sure what that’s called. And there’s another, it’s a Souls-like where you play a Sun Wukong, which also looks dope as hell. Another mobile game called Zenless Zone Zero that I’m really excited about. I think it was pushed back a little bit, but I think Zenless Zone Zero is gonna be the new big gacha game when it comes out, I hope; I mean, it’s beautiful. As well as Blue Protocol, Ashes of Creation, as well as the Riot MMO whenever that comes out. And then I’m probably gonna go back and play some Super Mario 64 as well, just because speedrunning is always fun.
I know you’ve moved on from Genshin for the most part, do you see yourself getting into Honkai: Star Rail at all?
Tectone: I’ll probably play it for a little bit, if that’s what people want. But I’ve already seen that game, I’ve formulated my opinion, and because HoYoverse really strays away from doing PvP, I don’t think the game will have as long as a lifetime, which is a shame. Because I’m pretty sure everybody who plays HoYoverse games understands that the game is good, but it could be so much better. But they really want to push the casual front more so than the dedicated player front, which is a real shame.
Even with Genshin, the game could be so much better, and the game is already good; I feel like a lot of people see the potential of what it could be, but I just don’t think it’ll ever get there, which really breaks my heart. I wish Genshin had more content for people who really want to think their teeth into it, but right now they really want to stick to the three to five minute daily check ins and then quit the game type of scenarios. I don’t know, it’s just kind of sad, I foresee Honkai: Star Rail just not living up to the potential of what it could be, which breaks my heart because the characters look really good, and so does the environment.
Is there anything else you want readers or fans to know about stuff you’ve got in the pipeline, or anything else?
Tectone: Yeah, I mean, I think I’ve touched on just about everything. But I guess the only thing that I would like anybody reading this to know right now is – for me, if people know about my journey a lot, I’ve gone through a lot of really bad s*** and my life hasn’t exactly been easy. But I kind of just want to let them know that even if things are pretty hard right now, things get better. It just takes a little bit of time and patience, and to not give up and just keep pushing towards their goals, keep pushing towards their dreams and spend today making tomorrow better. Kind of all I want to say.
Source: Steak and Eggs Podcast/YouTube, Tectone/YouTube (1, 2)