Simon Heijnen is a man who has done the unthinkable. Swimming headlong against the wave of popular opinion that SC2 is solidly in decline, Simon Heijnen (better known as Lowko) has risen in popularity on YouTube and Twitch with primarily StarCraft 2 content.

                Lowko got his start during the Wings of Liberty beta in 2010. With a preexisting affinity for creating helpful tutorials and guides, Lowko dove into the SC2 community as a fresh face with big dreams. Defying all supposed odds as laid out by the community, Lowko started to really hit his stride in 2013. And now, four years later, he sports a 200,000 YouTube subscriber count and is one of the most popular SC2 streamers on Twitch.

                I had the pleasure of talking to Lowko about his history in content creation, his plans for the future, what he thinks of the current iteration of SC2, and much more!

Time Stamps

1:17 – You’ve been all over the world in the past few months! Is it hard to travel so much within a short period of time?

2:55 – Before you were involved in content creation, you ran your own web design company. This was several years ago, how did you become involved with owning your own business at such a young age?

5:38 – Did the knowledge that you made use of with web design crossover into content creation and give you a leg up in any way?

7:24 – For a number of years while you’ve been working as a content creator you were also going to school for a business degree. How hard was it to juggle university and content creation at the same time?

9:29 – You recently hit a huge life milestone with the signing on a deal for your first house! Tell us a little bit about that.

10:44 – Though widely known for SC2, your first foray into content creation was in Runescape. Tell me about your experience with Runescape, what sort of content were you making for that game?

13:38 – You also did some work with Minecraft, starting two series on YouTube with that game. What did you learn from these early steps into content creation?

15:24 – From Runescape to Minecraft, how did you eventually discover SC2?

16:53 – How did you decide to make SC2 your primary scene that you were focusing on?

18:39 – In 2013 you joined Quantic gaming, and later Mousesports. How did you develop connections to these companies and what did being a part of these organizations do for you as a content creator at this time?

21:00 – In 2014, you published a video saying that you didn’t believe SC2 was growing your channel anymore. Looking back, was there any concern that you didn’t want to express publicly? Is there anything you’d say to your past self in this time if you could?

24:08 – You’ve said in the past that you would have loved to have been a pro gamer. Was there any specific point in time where you realized that the pro gamer dream wasn’t becoming a reality?

25:52 – Has there been a point where you’ve looked at your work and your success and thought ‘I’ve made it’ or is that something that you don’t really think about?

27:00 – You somehow juggle both YouTube and Twitch streaming. Where do you find the time to produce such high quality content at such a large volume on both platforms?

28:50 – YouTube has been dealing with a lot of controversy surrounding its ad system lately. Can you talk a little bit about the state of YouTube in the past six months/year and have you been dealing with these issues personally?

32:28 – Is there a platform that you prefer between YouTube and Twitch?

33:28 – You’re just getting back from WESG in Barcelona. How was that experience?

34:08 – You’ll also be casting the Dutch StarCraft League in the coming weeks as well, you’ve put in a ton of hours casting in the past, is casting something that you’d like to pursue seriously?

35:26 – In October you were in California for Blzizcon and the SC2 summit. You worked with the virtual ticket team during Blizzcon. How was it working the event?

36:48 – Talk a little bit about the SC2 community summit. Were you happy with how it went?

38:55 – There’s been a huge balance patch recently that introduced so many changes to the SC2 multiplayer. What are your personal thoughts on the state of the meta?

40:33 – As a high level Zerg palyer, what are your thoughts on the state of Zerg in particular?

42:06 – Are you in favour of these huge yearly balance patches?

44:04 – Is there anything that you wish would return to the meta from previous years?

45:19 – You’ve produced content for all of the current Blizzard titles. Is there any one scene/community that you’ve enjoyed/disliked working with?

47:12 – As a now established content creator with a sizeable natural following, how important is it to you if your work is posted to reddit or TeamLiquid?

48:40 – Fan questions

                HotJapaneseGirl asks: Recently you purchased a house, which is a huge life goal. What other aspirations do you have outside of SC2, youtube, and streaming?

                Jacob asks: Would you rather fight one mothership sized probe, or 100 probe sized motherships?

                Zelderan asks: What is your favourite StarCraft memory? Who is your favourite Youtuber besides yourself?

56:40 – If you were to give advice to anyone looking to come up as a content creator in the scene today, what would you say?

59:09 – Do you still think there’s room for content creators to rise in the same space that you’re filling right now?

1:02:17 – Are there any games that you think you’d like to produce content for in the future, maybe revisit something that you worked with in the past?