The archive · Content & Film · Product decision · 2021–2022
MrBeast's real-life 'Squid Game' spends $3.5M and passes 100M views in four days
After the Netflix hit, MrBeast rebuilt its games for 456 real contestants and a $456,000 prize — his most expensive video ever.
MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson)
What it had to solve
By late 2021 MrBeast ran one of YouTube's biggest channels, with more than 80 million subscribers built on stunt videos with cash prizes. Netflix's Squid Game had just become a global phenomenon, and recreating its games faithfully would cost more than any YouTube video he had ever made.
How it works
Squid Game became Netflix's defining hit of late 2021, and MrBeast — a YouTuber with more than 80 million subscribers and a history of cash-prize stunts — saw an obvious intersection. His team spent over $3.5 million recreating the show's sets and games, from 'Red Light, Green Light' to the glass bridge, in what he called his most expensive video ever.
The finished video, '$456,000 Squid Game In Real Life!', staged the games for 456 real contestants competing for a $456,000 top prize. Elimination devices popped when players lost, faithful sets gave fans of the show instant recognition, and the production was framed entirely for YouTube: the spectacle of the crowd, the scale of the builds and the drama of each elimination were the content.
Released in late November 2021, the video passed 100 million views within four days and was near 110 million views when Mashable wrote about it that weekend, on its way to becoming one of the most popular uploads on his channel. It also drew sharp criticism — reviewers argued it stripped the anti-capitalist message from a story about desperate people and turned suffering into entertainment — which did nothing to slow its spread.
Why it lands
- The set fidelity made the video a spectacle for fans of the show: recognisable games recreated at a scale no YouTube creator had attempted.
- A real $456,000 prize gave every elimination genuine stakes, so even viewers who had never seen Squid Game understood the tension.
- The video landed weeks after Squid Game peaked in the culture, timing the release into the middle of the internet's biggest conversation.
- Spending like a studio changed what audiences expected from a creator video, making production scale itself part of the appeal.
What it did
The video passed 100 million views within four days and sat near 110 million views when Mashable wrote about it days later, on its way to becoming one of the creator's most popular uploads of all time. It was released to a channel that already had more than 80 million subscribers and a track record of running cash-prize competitions.
What you can take
When the budget is visible on screen, the video becomes an event: MrBeast spent like a studio, and audiences watched the scale itself — the sets, the crowd, the prize — rather than just the outcome.
Since then
The video confirmed the model that defined MrBeast's channel through the 2020s: ultra-high-budget, game-show-style videos where the production values are the story. It drew both record attention and criticism — commentators argued it misread the show's critique of capitalism, while fans celebrated the craft — and it stayed among his most popular uploads, becoming a standard reference point in debates about creator production budgets and YouTube content.
Sources
- YouTuber MrBeast Surpasses 100 Million Views on Controversial Squid Game Recreation Video
- IRL 'Squid Game' gets 100 million YouTube views in 4 days
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