Karl Jobst (born 7 February 1986)[3] is an Australian GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Darkspeedrunner, YouTuber, and investigative journalist whose work has primarily focused on exposing cheating and fraud in the gaming community. He also covers other speedrunning and challenge-related feats, including world record histories. As of February 2024, he has over one million subscribers on YouTube.
Early life
Jobst began playing video games at age two and a half; his first gaming experience was with the PC game Ultima V, and his first console was a Nintendo 64 he received in 1997. He briefly studied IT and psychology at university and spent time working at a chicken factory, a mobile phone shop, and a call centre.[4]
Speedrunning career
Jobst began speedrunning in 1999 when competing for fast times in GoldenEye 007 with a friend before moving on to Perfect Dark.[4][5]
He is ranked fifth by number of Goldeneye 007 world records by the game's speedrunning authority.[6] Jobst was recognised as the "Perfect Dark Champion" (meaning he was statistically deemed the number-one player in the world at the game, according to the community's rankings) from 10 November 2002 – 24 December 2003; 26 July 2016 – 30 July 2016; 31 July 2016 – 19 March 2020; and 21 March 2020 – 25 March 2020 (tied).[7] As of 11 March 2022, Jobst had set 199 individual level world records throughout his career, of which 9 remain (albeit all subsequently tied by other players).[8]
Most likely his biggest speedrunning achievement was setting the world record for the first level of GoldenEye 007 on 2 December 2017, completing the run in 52 seconds on the Agent difficulty, beating a 53-second record set by former Perfect Dark world champion Bryan Bosshardt on 27 September 2002. This feat was described by Owen S. Good of gaming magazine Polygon as "akin to the sub-four[-]minute mile, multiplied by breaking the sound barrier."[9]
In late 2021, Jobst started a speedrunning podcast called The Legends Podcast. In September 2021, Legends co-host Tomatoanus announced the cancellation of future episodes and the taking down of previous episodes after Jobst was accused of racism. In a video, Jobst denied the allegations, stating that messages had been taken out of context.[10]
Investigative work
Heritage Auctions and Wata Games allegations
On 23 August 2021, Jobst released a YouTube documentary alleging fraud and conflict of interest between Heritage Auctions, a company selling retro video games for record-breaking prices (including a copy of Super Mario Bros. for over US$2 million); Wata Games, an agency that grades rare games; and video game collectors who intend to manufacture a bubble of retro games.[11] Jobst alleged that Wata CEO Deniz Kahn and Heritage Auctions co-founder Jim Halperin manipulated the market through press releases and television appearances on Pawn Stars while limiting the availability of information by purchasing and shutting down retro gaming site NintendoAge.[5][12] Wata Games denied the claims immediately after Jobst published the video.[5] In a statement made to Video Games Chronicle, Heritage Auctions responded to Jobst's video by saying they had not engaged in any illegal activity.[12] In a June 2022 follow-up video, Jobst detailed a class-action lawsuit filed against Wata Games and its owner Collectors Universe in May 2022 for market manipulation and other alleged financial impropriety.[13]
Badabun allegations
In December 2017, Mexican media network Badabun uploaded a video purportedly showing network member Tavo Betancourt speedrunning Super Mario Bros.; in January 2020, Jobst uploaded a video revealing that the Badabun video had been faked, showing various inconsistencies and irregularities found within the alleged speedrun footage and demonstrating that the footage was spliced from videos by several actual world record holders in the game, as well as from a tool-assisted speedrun.[14]
Billy Mitchell allegations
American gamer Billy Mitchell was accused by Jobst of cheating to obtain his records in the arcade games Donkey Kong and Pac-Man, allegations that had already been made for years.[10][15] Mitchell sued Jobst for defamation, seeking damages of $450,000, having also sued YouTuber Benjamin Smith, known as Apollo Legend, and speedrunning site Twin Galaxies for similar grievances.[10][15] Jobst's allegations against Mitchell also included claims that Mitchell's lawsuit against Smith contributed to his poor mental health and suicide,[15] but he has since clarified that this was far less likely than he originally thought.[citation needed] Ultimately, Jobst was sued three times,[16] having already spent about $180,000 on legal fees, and he had estimated a further $100,000 in legal costs to defend himself.[16] Jobst set up a legal defence fund on GoFundMe to mitigate the financial damage to his family due to the lawsuit. As of August 2023, it has raised A$143,176.[17]
In January 2023, Jobst made a video that showcased evidence in the form of an old photograph that clearly demonstrated that Mitchell did not play his claimed world record runs on original hardware despite claiming so for many years, including a photograph that showed that the arcade cabinet Mitchell played on had an 8-direction joystick (as opposed to the original 4-direction joystick), which would have made the game much easier to play.[18][19][20] The lawsuits against Jobst and others have been considered by presiding judges and media commentators to be frivolous, if not downright vexatious.[21][22][23]
Other investigations
Jobst has covered other cheating scandals in the gaming community, including an incident of cheating by the most popular Minecraft speedrunner at the time, Dream.[24]
In November 2023, Jobst uploaded a video alongside YouTuber Mutahar "SomeOrdinaryGamers" Anas investigating the Open Hand Foundation, a charity which YouTuber Jirard "The Completionist" Khalil actively led alongside his family. Khalil hosted the IndieLand
fundraiser under the organization, claiming that the proceeds went towards dementia research. However, Jobst and Anas discovered through public tax filings that the organization
had not donated any of the money accumulated since its inception as a non-profit in 2014, which totalled $655,520.[25][26]
