PewDiePie, Palmer Luckey Named Two of World's Most Influential People

Time magazine today published its list of the 100 Most Influential People, naming YouTube star PewDiePie and Oculus Rift creator Palmer Luckey as Pioneers who have shaped the world with their creations.

PewDiePie, whose real name is Felix Kjellberg, has more subscribers on YouTube (43.4 million) than anyone else by a major margin. He also recently launched a new show for YouTube Red called Scare PewDiePie.

In an essay for Time, South-Park co-creator Trey Parker called Kjellberg the "pied piper of YouTube."

"I know it might seem weird, especially to those of us from an older generation, that people would spend so much time watching someone else play video games," Parker said. "But I choose to see it as the birth of a new art form. And I don't think anyone should underestimate its most powerful artist."

As for Luckey, Gladiator and Black Hawk Down director Ridley Scott described Luckey as an "architect of new worlds," saying the Rift headset has "opened up a new world of storytelling."

"Because of Palmer's entrepreneurial and innovative nature, the needle for VR has moved from impractical to endlessly possible," the director said.

Kjellberg and Luckey are the only people with direct ties to gaming who made Time's list this year. Last year, Feminist Frequency creator Anita Sarkeesian made the cut, while Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson landed on the list in 2013 and Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto did in 2007.

Others featured in the 2016 Time 100 include people like Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy (titan), Charlize Theron (artist), Donald Trump (leader), and Ronda Rousey (icon). You can see the full list here.