190K subscribers gone: YouTuber loses channel over new horror game

On October 8, 2026, Saber Interactive released Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival, a new survival horror game that is definitely not for the faint of heart. The title is based on the Hellraiser films, which are known for their extreme violence and nudity. Players take on the role of Aidan, who must rescue his girlfriend Sunny from a hellish parallel world. There, he encounters not only plenty of grotesque monsters but also the infamous Pinhead and his Cenobites. From a first-person perspective, players explore, solve puzzles and fight enemies. The Cenobites are demonic beings for whom pain and pleasure are inseparable. Accordingly, the game doesn't hold back: Mutilated bodies, bloody torture scenes, BDSM imagery and nudity are commonplace – and that apparently proved disastrous for one YouTuber.

As IGN reports, French YouTuber j0nathan published a roughly hour-long gameplay video in September that also showed the particularly explicit opening sequence. Although he claims to have covered the nudity with black boxes, YouTube removed the video – and shortly afterward deleted his entire channel, which the creator had built up over around ten years with approximately 3,000 videos. The channel had around 190,000 subscribers. YouTube justified the deletion by citing severe or repeated violations of its policies on sexual content and nudity.

The YouTuber considers the decision disproportionate and emphasizes that he merely showed scenes from a commercially released video game. One important detail: Speaking to IGN, j0nathan confirmed that while he had marked his video as “Not made for kids,” he had not applied an explicit age restriction. However, it remains unclear whether this was actually a deciding factor in the channel's deletion. After several unsuccessful appeals, j0nathan announced on X on October 8 that he would pursue legal action under the European Digital Services Act.

Reddit accuses YouTube of double standards

On Reddit, the case has sparked considerable backlash. Many users accuse YouTube of double standards, criticizing the fact that videos featuring more revealing content apparently remain on the platform without issue, while a censored gameplay video results in an entire channel being deleted. Music videos, sexually suggestive advertisements and supposed educational videos are frequently cited as examples. One user also points out that even IGN's review video of Hellraiser: Revival was largely uncensored. User u/Limit_Ok, for example, writes:

"I got flagged for uploading a video of this game also. My video showed everything uncensored. First offense, no strike. Seems odd that I had some leniency."

Some Redditors suspect faulty automated moderation or preferential treatment for particularly large channels, although neither theory can be substantiated. The YouTuber himself has also faced some criticism – partly because he failed to apply an age restriction to the video and partly because some Redditors believe that, as an experienced YouTuber, he should have handled such an explicit horror game more carefully. Nevertheless, the overwhelming majority still consider the complete deletion of a channel built up over more than ten years to be a massive overreaction. Readers are welcome to share their thoughts on the matter in the comments section below.