On June 3, 2023, YouTube Gaming streamer Ludwig addressed the recent cheating controversy in Ludlocke, his Pokemon Nuzlocke run. For context, Nuzlocke is a difficult Pokemon challenge in which players can only catch one pocket monster per route while the encounters are entirely randomized.
While watching his esports team, Moist Moguls, take on The Guards in the Valorant Challengers playoffs, Ludwig noticed his channel moderator asking him to address the drama shrouding his recent video. In response, the Los Angeles-based personality claimed that he had simply uploaded a video of himself playing Pokemon and it was not a “big deal.” He added:
“What’s there to talk about? I uploaded a video of me playing Pokemon. It’s not a big deal. I make a lot of videos where I do similar things. Dude, I got literal hate threads on Reddit about like, ‘I cannot believe Ludwig would do this.’ ‘Normally, his scams are in good-hearted faith, but this has gone too far.’ ‘I don’t even know if I can trust him anymore.'”
Ludwig discusses why he chose to cheat in his Pokemon Nuzlocke run
Ludwig pointed out that nobody had batted an eye when he previously cheated in Super Smash Bros. and Chess. Things “suddenly” went too far only when he did it in Pokemon.
“I cheated in (Super) Smash (Bros.), nobody batted an eye! I cheated in Chess, you all thought, ‘Haha. Funny, funny.’ But I cheat in Pokemon and all of a sudden, the untouchable game.”
Some fans responded saying that the streamer’s Pokemon Nuzlocke runs were usually genuine. Ludwig then asserted that he had previously quit and cheated in the game. He also explained why he chose to go ahead with this content:
“Having said that, the conversation went like this. I had a call with my editors, and I was talking about the Ludlocke. And, every week, I have a call with all my editors. And we go, ‘What do we have this week, fellas? What video did I stream that you guys can make into a nice million-view video.’ And the answer for a week was… nothing. ‘You are doing the Ludlocke every day and it’s failing. We cannot turn that into a video.'”
According to Ludwig, one of his video editors then pitched the idea of cheating in his Ludlocke runs, which drove the streamer to a realization. He thought that attempting Nuzlocke for the Pokemon Emerald version would have been “pretty lame.” Here’s what he said:
“One of the editors, who I will not knock on, was like, ‘What if you did the cheating thing for the Ludlocke?’ Because, I came to the realization that the Ludlocke, for Mogul Emerald, would be pretty lame. If I just beat it normally. For a few factors. One – it took a lot longer than it should have. Two – it was not the prettiest of the games. Three – it wasn’t even that hard. It just frankly wasn’t.”
The discussion concluded with Ludwig saying that cheating in the challenging Pokemon run was “better” for the content:
“So, anyway, this was the conclusion. It’s like, ‘Hey, for content, it is better to cheat.’ But, I wanted to make sure that I cheated in ways I could not do by myself. Because, and you guys are going to say, ‘Copium,’ I think I could’ve beat it, with not even that much more time. Like, I beat all eight gyms in five hours. I probably could’ve beaten that run, if not the next run pretty easily.”
He then went on to say that he was pleased with how the video turned out:
“But, I would’ve beat it a little more boringly. So, I think what made the video kind of fun is having a paralyzed Rinoone as a part of a strategy, where I’m faking that it is on purpose, by acting it out. I think that is kind of hype! So, I think it worked out. I was pretty happy with the results.”
Fans react to Ludwig’s explanation
The YouTube comments section under the clip featured over a hundred reactions. Here’s a snapshot:
While one viewer made a comment in jest that Ludwig is “known for his integrity and truthful nature,” another community member commented that “cheating” in the Pokemon Nuzlocke run helps it reach a larger audience.