Daniel John Hardcastle[2] (born 23 March 1989), known online as Nerd³ or NerdCubed, is a British YouTuber, author and actor.[3][4][5] Created in 2011, his YouTube channel primarily consists of video game-related content. As of September 2023, it has approximately 2.44 million subscribers and 1.34 billion video views.[6] He is the author of The Sunday Times bestseller Fuck Yeah, Video Games: The Life and Extra Lives of a Professional Nerd.
| Daniel Hardcastle | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Hardcastle at a book signing in 2019 | ||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||
| Born | Daniel John Hardcastle 23 March 1989 Essex, United Kingdom | |||||||||
| Nationality | English | |||||||||
| Occupations |
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| Spouse |
Rebecca Maughan (m. 2016) | |||||||||
| Website | www | |||||||||
| YouTube information | ||||||||||
| Channel | ||||||||||
| Years active | 2009–present | |||||||||
| Genres |
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| Subscribers | 2.44 million[1] | |||||||||
| Total views | 1.34 billion[1] | |||||||||
| Associated acts | ||||||||||
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Last updated: 22 September 2023 | ||||||||||
Career
editOnline
editHardcastle rose to prominence through a scripted, story-based webcomic created within Minecraft.[7] After creating his YouTube channel on 20 March 2011,[8] Hardcastle initially uploaded a series of comedic vlogs before he uploaded his first let's play. His first let's play series, called Nerd³'s Minecraft Buildy Thing, ran from 27 August 2011 to 22 August 2012. After creating videos on a few indie games, Hardcastle uploaded his first Nerd³ Plays video on 7 January 2012. In 2012, Machinima sponsored him to create the series 13 Ways To Die.[9]
In 2015, Hardcastle was nominated for a Golden Joystick Award for "online personality of the year".[10] He has since amassed more than 2.44 million subscribers and 1.34 billion total views.[8] On Red Nose Day 2019, Hardcastle raised over £16,000 for Comic Relief over the course of an 11-hour livestream.[11] In September 2019, Hardcastle's YouTube account was unverified for being not widely recognised outside the platform.[12]
Film
editIn 2020, Hardcastle starred in the film Ashens and the Polybius Heist alongside his longtime collaborator Stuart Ashen, who also co-wrote the film.[13] Hardcastle himself also holds a small writing credit for the film, having written two jokes into it when Ashen gave him the script.[14] Hardcastle will also be starring in Ashen's film Turn Back.[15]
Books
editHardcastle began writing his first book, Fuck Yeah, Video Games: The Life & Extra Lives of a Professional Nerd, in 2017. On 4 June 2018, he started crowdfunding the book through the website Unbound. The book reached 100% of its target on the first day[16] and 1000% by 11 June. Reaching a total of 1903% of its initial goal, the book is the most successful crowdfunded book in the United Kingdom. The foreword of the book was written by founder of Double Fine and game director Tim Schafer, and another a chapter was contributed by YouTuber Stuart Ashen.[17][18] The book was released on 19 September 2019 and was a The Sunday Times best seller.[19]
On 26 September 2019, crowdfunding began for Hardcastle's second book, The Paradox Paradox, a science fiction novel which he described as "a bit Star Trek, a bit Doctor Who, and a bit fucked up."[20][21] The book achieved its funding goal within 20 minutes.[22]
Personal life
editHardcastle is married to Rebecca Maughan,[23] an artist who illustrated Fuck Yeah, Video Games.[16]
Hardcastle's father, Steve "Dad³" Hardcastle, with whom he has regularly collaborated, started a YouTube channel in 2013; it has accumulated more than 300,000 subscribers and 23 million total views.[24] He retired from making videos on 5 February 2024.[25]
Hardcastle studied astrophysics at the University of Leicester, but dropped out after the first year.[26][27]
References
edit- ^ a b "About OfficialNerdCubed". YouTube.
- ^ "Daniel John HARDCASTLE". Companies House. Retrieved 27 November 2020.
- ^ "Daniel Hardcastle". IMDb. Retrieved 12 May 2023.
- ^ "NERD CUBED LIMITED - Officers". Companies House. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
- ^ "Company Information - Nerd³". Nerd³. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
- ^ "OfficialNerdCubed - About". YouTube. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
- ^ Allen, David (15 December 2020). "Interview With Daniel Hardcastle, Author of 'Fuck Yeah, Video Games'". thenerddaily.com. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
- ^ a b "OfficialNerdCubed - YouTube". YouTube. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
- ^ OfficialNerdCubed (26 January 2019). "Nerd³ Machinima Compilation - 13 Ways to Die, GTA IV, Pokémals and more!". YouTube. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
- ^ Reynolds, Matthew (1 September 2015). "Golden Joystick Awards voting now open". Digital Spy. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
- ^ Williamson, Sarah (5 April 2019). "NerdCubed's Stream raises over £16,000 for Comic Relief". TenEighty. TENEIGHTY DIGITAL LTD. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
- ^ O'Dell, Liam (19 September 2019). "YouTube Reveals New Plans for Channel Verification". TenEighty. Retrieved 22 September 2020.[third-party source needed]
- ^ Relentless Films (6 November 2020). "(Official Website)". Ashens and the Polybius Heist. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
- ^ "OfficialNerdCubed - Nerd³ and Ashens... Just Chat for a Bit". YouTube. 23 May 2020.
- ^ Fortune, Ed (9 November 2023). "24 Hours Left To Turn Back and Support British Horror". STARBURST Magazine. Retrieved 25 November 2023.
- ^ a b Cowdrey, Katherine (6 June 2018). "Unbound crowdfunding record smashed by gamer Dan NerdCubed". The Bookseller. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
- ^ Fogarty, Paul (18 September 2019). "Book Review - Fuck Yeah, Video Games by Daniel Hardcastle aka. NerdCubed". Here Is The City. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
- ^ "Nerd³'s Book Update - With BIG News!" on YouTube
- ^ "The Sunday Times Bestsellers List — the UK's definitive book sales chart". The Sunday Times. 18 September 2019. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
- ^ "The Paradox Paradox". Unbound. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
- ^ "The Paradox Paradox announcement". InfluencerUpdate. 26 September 2019. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
- ^ @unbounders (26 September 2019). "AND THERE IT GOES. 100% in 20 minutes!!!! @dannerdcubed's #TheParadoxParadox is happening!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ Maughan, Rebecca. "Hello, @DanNerdCubed and I did a thing". Archived from the original on 7 May 2019. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
- ^ "About OfficialDadCubed". YouTube. Archived from the original on 30 October 2015. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
- ^ "The Week of Dad³ The Finale 18th December 2023". YouTube. 5 February 2024. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
- ^ OfficialNerdCubed (8 June 2012). Nerd³ Plays... Universe Sandbox. Event occurs at 1:39. Archived from the original on 5 September 2019. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
- ^ Hardcastle, Daniel (September 2019). Fuck Yeah, Video Games: The Life and Extra Lives of a Professional Nerd. London. ISBN 978-1-78352-787-8. OCLC 1080999469.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
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