PietSmiet: Everything About the Five-Member Creator Team

PietSmiet is one of the best-known and longest-running gaming creator teams in the German-speaking world. Since 2011, five friends – Peter Smits, Dennis Brammen, Sebastian Lenßen, Christian Stachelhaus and Jonathan Apelt – have been making Let’s Plays, game shows, reactions and livestreams (all in German). On YouTube, the main channel has 2.48M subscribers, and 856K people follow them on Twitch. At the end of 2024, the team announced a shift toward more Twitch livestreams and shortly afterwards broke a Germany-wide Twitch subscription record; in 2026, however, new videos are once again going up on the main channel almost every day. In this profile, you’ll learn all about PietSmiet’s history, members and formats – and what parents should know.

Profile

• Team name: PietSmiet (also PietSmittie)
• Current members: Peter Smits (Piet), Dennis Brammen (Br4mm3n), Sebastian Lenßen (Sep), Christian Stachelhaus (Chris), Jonathan Apelt (Jay)
• Former member: Denis Hartwig (Hardi) – left in October 2015
• Founder: Peter Smits; first Let’s Play on February 2, 2011
• Headquarters: Berlin (formerly Cologne)
• Legal form: PietSmiet UG (haftungsbeschränkt) & Co. KG, a German limited partnership
• Managing directors: Peter Smits & Dennis Brammen
• Language: German
• Content genres: variety gaming, Let’s Plays, game shows, reactions, pen & paper, podcasts
• Highlights: PietCast (podcast since 2015), their own game shows, a Formula 1 broadcast (2019), Twitch channel record (January 2025)
• Website: pietsmiet.de with a content schedule

Channels & reach

Besides the main channel, the team runs PietSmietTV (reacts), PietSmiet Live (uncut stream VODs) and Best of PietSmiet. On Twitch, the channel reached an all-time high of around 40,000 active subs in January 2025.

More channels: Instagram, TikTok, X and the Discord community. On pietsmiet.de, the team also links to the personal Instagram profiles of all five members.

What is PietSmiet doing right now?

In October 2026, PietSmiet is active on all channels: according to the content schedule on pietsmiet.de, a video goes up on the main channel almost every day – for example Worms, TTT, Perfect Heist 2, Transport Fever 3, GTA challenges and quiz formats like “50 Fragen zu …”. A video series about a joint road trip through Canada has just wrapped up, and special events such as the “Win Challenge” and the “God Gamer Gauntlet” are coming up on Twitch. Unlike in season 13, PietSmiet is not part of Craft Attack 14. Our analysis shows how much Minecraft is currently in the uploads:

Who is PietSmiet? The story of a gaming phenomenon

PietSmiet isn’t a solo project but a team of five friends, most of whom have known each other since childhood. Most of them attended the Kardinal-von-Galen-Gymnasium in Kevelaer or met through shared hobbies like scouting. What started as a hobby – recording their nightly gaming sessions – grew into one of Germany’s most successful gaming projects.

The name “PietSmiet” comes from founder Peter Smits. In 2007, Smits started the channel with personal videos about his Abitur (the German high school diploma). On February 2, 2011, the first Let’s Play went up – EVE Online with Peter Smits and former member Denis Hartwig. The other members joined one by one, and the channel became a team project.

In 2013, PietSmiet was, alongside Gronkh, one of the most popular Let’s Play channels in the German-speaking world and received the gold Play Button for one million subscribers at Gamescom. Since then, the team has kept evolving and becoming more professional.

The big restructuring (late 2024/early 2025)

At the turn of 2024/25, PietSmiet announced a change of direction: less YouTube content, more Twitch livestreams. Parts of the community reacted negatively. One day after the announcement video, ahead of the Q&A livestream, PietSmiet set a new subscription record for its own channel: according to Twitch stats sites, around 40,000 active subs (January 2025). The overall German record is far higher – Shlorox has held it since his subathon in March 2024 with more than 90,000 subs. Now (as of October 2026), videos are going up on the main channel almost every day again.

Twitch: from a broadcasting license to round-the-clock streams

The Twitch channel has existed since April 25, 2011, but was only actively used from September 2013. In 2017, the German media regulator’s licensing commission classified the channel as a broadcasting service requiring a license, and broadcasting was temporarily stopped. Since February 1, 2019, it has been running continuously again. Since spring 2020, PietSmiet has greatly expanded its livestream schedule.

The PietSmiet members

Peter Smits (Piet)

• Born: March 28, 1989 in Kevelaer
• Role: founder and namesake, managing director
• Education: Abitur at the KvGG, studied media studies and media informatics at the University of Cologne
• Career: content manager at GameStar (a German gaming magazine) from 2009 to 2012

Peter is the creative mind behind PietSmiet and was the first to upload videos to the channel. His time at GameStar helped him bring professional standards to content production. In November 2025, he co-hosted TV chef Horst Lichter’s first Twitch appearance.

Dennis Brammen (Br4mm3n)

• Born: March 28, 1988 in Goch
• Role: managing director, part of PietSmiet Holding GmbH
• Education: studied International Business Economics in the Netherlands (Bachelor of Economics)
• Career: HR controller, including at Gerresheimer

Together with Peter, Dennis handles the business side of PietSmiet. His economic expertise has helped turn the hobby into a sustainable company.

Sebastian Lenßen (Sep)

• Born: December 5, 1988 in Kevelaer
• Education: Abitur at the KvGG, studied mechanical engineering at Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences
• Career: development engineer at Bühler

With his engineering background, Sep brings an analytical perspective to the team and is known for his dry humor.

Christian Stachelhaus (Chris)

• Born: October 4, 1984 in Meerbusch-Büderich
• Grew up in: Duisburg
• Education: trained as a freight forwarding and logistics clerk, studied media studies at the University of Cologne (not completed)

Chris met Peter while studying at the University of Cologne. As the oldest member, he brings a special dynamic to the team.

Jonathan Apelt (Jay)

• Born: May 31, 1989 in Essen
• From: Weeze
• Education: Abitur at the KvGG, studied veterinary medicine at Justus Liebig University Giessen

Jay is the only team member with a background in veterinary medicine and brings his own perspective to discussions.

Denis Hartwig (Hardi) – former member

• Born: March 8, 1989 in Moers
• Left: October 2015 (announced on October 7)

Denis was a founding member and hosted formats including “PietSmiet kocht” (“PietSmiet cooks”). His departure was announced under #Aufbruch. The split was amicable, without any dispute.

Known projects & series

Let’s Plays and gaming

PietSmiet is known for variety gaming. In the early years, multi-part Let’s Plays dominated; in 2018, the team dropped them due to waning interest and has since focused on round- or goal-based games that wrap up within a single video. Full playthroughs happen on Twitch.

Game shows

Between 2015 and 2017, PietSmiet expanded its game show formats, which are now among its longest-running:

• Fame or Shame – rating bizarre videos
• Nerdquiz – a gaming and pop culture quiz
• Der Dümmste ist raus (“The dumbest one is out”) – a knowledge quiz with elimination
• 50 Fragen zu … (“50 questions about …”) – a quiz series on changing topics (regularly on the main channel in 2026)

PietCast (podcast)

On February 18, 2015, Peter Smits and Christian Stachelhaus launched the PietCast – a podcast that has come out with a rotating lineup ever since. Topics range from gaming news to personal experiences and current trends.

PietSmiet kocht

A format with no gaming connection, originally hosted by Denis Hartwig. The guys cook different dishes – with more or less success.

Das Schwarze Auge (pen & paper)

Several seasons of the real-life pen & paper project “Das Schwarze Auge” (“The Dark Eye”, a German tabletop RPG) were released on PietSmietTV – a highlight for roleplaying fans.

The YouTube channels

• PietSmiet (main channel): Let’s Plays, game shows and specials; since 2007.
• PietSmietTV: founded on February 23, 2012. Today mostly reacts; earlier also developer visits, reports and reviews.
• PietSmiet Live: founded on February 15, 2019. Since May 2020, uncut Twitch streams have been uploaded here.
• Best of PietSmiet: founded on May 21, 2014 for best-ofs from the main channel; today with monthly best-ofs, among other things.
• Frag PietSmiet (discontinued): from April 2014 to February 2023, the team answered viewer questions here every day in short phone videos.

Special events and milestones

• H4RD RES3T (2012–2013): a weekly MyVideo livestream hosted by Peter Smits and Dennis Brammen. Ended after 38 episodes and later continued by Rocket Beans TV as “Rocket Beans’ Hard Reset”.
• Last Man Standing (2013): On March 1, 2013, PietSmiet competed for more than 8 hours against Gronkh, Sarazar and others in a MyVideo livestream; around 1.5 million viewers tuned in. Part 2 followed on November 30, 2013.
• Formula 1 broadcast (2019): PietSmiet streamed the 2019 Mexican Grand Prix live on Twitch with its own commentary – the first official broadcast of its kind for a Formula 1 race.
• Total verzockt! tour 2016 (June 21–25) to celebrate 2 million subscribers, and Wir lieben diesen Zirkus! tour 2018 (April 18–29) with stops in Germany and Vienna.
• Channel record on Twitch (January 2025): around 40,000 active subs.
• 15 years of PietSmiet (2026): for the anniversary, there was a limited “15 years of PietSmiet” box with a jersey.

PietSmiet and Minecraft

For a long time, Minecraft was PietSmiet’s most important game: the Minecraft Adventure Maps ran for more than four years with over 1,400 episodes and ended on October 10, 2015 after Hardi’s departure. PietSmiet took part as a team in Craft Attack 13; however, PietSmiet is not on the official participant list for Craft Attack 14 (started October 2026). Today, Minecraft is one of many games on the schedule – the content mix above shows how big its share currently is.

Merch

Merchandise is available in the official shop pietsmiet.store (PTSMT.shop) – for example shirts, hoodies and caps. In 2026, releases included a varsity jacket, the first summer collection “Videogame Vacation” and the limited 15-year box. Since the end of 2014, PietSmiet has also offered gaming PCs built by partner companies to configurations set by the team.

Friends, crew & collabs

• Gronkh & Sarazar: opponents in “Last Man Standing” (2013)
• Rocket Beans TV: continued the “Hard Reset” format
• Guests in 2026: Dracon, Maurice Weber and RangerArea joined for games like Civilization 6; in the “God Gamer Gauntlet”, Brammen takes on Kaddi, GTime, Radlerauge and Edopeh
• Craft Attack 13: part of the big creator project

Income & net worth

The channels are run by PietSmiet UG (haftungsbeschränkt) & Co. KG, based in Berlin, founded and managed by Peter Smits and Dennis Brammen. Since May 2015, there has also been PietSmiet Holding GmbH, managed by Dennis Brammen; between 2015 and 2017, Smits and Brammen also held a stake in Webedia Gaming GmbH through the holding company. The names PietSmiet, PietSmittie and Br4mm3n have been registered trademarks since 2013.

From mid-2015, pietsmiet.de was expanded into an entertainment portal with Mikkel Robrahn as editor-in-chief; new videos usually appeared there a few hours before YouTube, and in 2019 the ad-free subscription model “Pietsmiet.de Snob” was added.

Management and networks: Brand collaborations are handled by the management agency 2nd Wave (founded by Boris “Mister Gamescom” Lehfeld), which also represents LeFloid and Sarazar; since 2013, PietSmiet has been part of the multi-channel network allyance (Webedia Gaming GmbH).

The team earns money from YouTube ads, Twitch subs and donations, sponsorships (labeled as ads in the videos), affiliate links, merchandise and PC sales. In early 2025, the old pietsmiet.de website was initially shut down because it was no longer profitable; since then, a new website with a content schedule and events has been running at the same address. There are no reliable figures on revenue or net worth – estimates online are based on extrapolations and are not backed up.

Is PietSmiet kid-friendly?

• A good fit: quiz shows like “50 Fragen zu …”, building games, party and skill games and the travel formats – lots of humor among friends.
• Take a closer look: some games carry higher age ratings (e.g. GTA, TTT or horror titles). PietSmietTV runs reaction videos, and the Twitch chat is fast and unfiltered.
• Advertising: video descriptions include sponsor and affiliate links as well as merch plugs – a good opportunity to talk to kids about advertising.
• Language: everything is in German. Does PietSmiet swear? Occasionally – it’s banter among adult friends, not crude content.
• Recommendation: for teens from around age 12; with younger kids, pick videos together beforehand.

Questions about PietSmiet

Who is in PietSmiet?

PietSmiet has five members: Peter Smits (Piet), Dennis Brammen (Br4mm3n), Sebastian Lenßen (Sep), Christian Stachelhaus (Chris) and Jonathan Apelt (Jay). The lineup is unchanged in 2026. Former member Denis Hartwig (Hardi) left in October 2015.

Why is it called PietSmiet?

The name PietSmiet comes from founder Peter Smits. Because “PietSmiet” was already taken as a URL, he first called the channel “PietSmittie”. Later he was able to take over the URL /PietSmiet.

Why is Hardi no longer part of PietSmiet?

Denis Hartwig (Hardi) left PietSmiet in October 2015 (announced on October 7) to focus on his own channel. The split was amicable and without any dispute, as the video for #Aufbruch emphasized. As a result, the channel’s longest project came to an end: the Minecraft Adventure Maps with more than 1,400 episodes.

Does PietSmiet still upload to YouTube?

Yes. At the end of 2024, PietSmiet announced it would cut back on YouTube content in favor of Twitch – but in October 2026, according to the content schedule, a new video goes up on the main channel almost every day, usually at 4 p.m. German time. On top of that, there are reacts on PietSmietTV and stream VODs on PietSmiet Live.

When does PietSmiet stream on Twitch?

PietSmiet streams regularly on Twitch – variety gaming, challenges, quiz shows and special events. Upcoming streams and videos are listed in the content schedule on pietsmiet.de. The Twitch channel has around 856K followers.

What is the PietCast?

The PietCast is a podcast launched on February 18, 2015 by Peter Smits and Christian Stachelhaus. It comes out with a rotating lineup and covers gaming, personal experiences and current trends.

Do the PietSmiet members know each other in real life?

Yes, most of the members have known each other since childhood or their school days. Many attended the Kardinal-von-Galen-Gymnasium (a secondary school) in Kevelaer or met through shared hobbies like scouting. This genuine friendship makes their videos especially authentic.

What does PietSmiet play most often?

PietSmiet is a variety gaming team. They became known for Minecraft (more than 1,400 episodes of Adventure Maps until 2015); today it’s mostly multiplayer games like TTT, Worms or GTA challenges, quiz formats like “50 Fragen zu …” (“50 questions about …”) and new releases.

Is PietSmiet suitable for kids?

For teens from around age 12, mostly yes. The quiz and game shows are harmless, but some games (e.g. GTA, TTT or horror titles) carry higher age ratings, and PietSmietTV runs reaction videos. With younger kids, pick videos together beforehand. All content is in German.

Transparency & sources

Primary sources:
Main YouTube channel and video list, PietSmietTV, PietSmiet Live, Twitch, pietsmiet.de with content schedule and team links (accessed October 14, 2026), merch shop, Discord, Craft Attack participant list

Secondary sources:
Wikipedia (German), YouTube Fandom Wiki (German), StreamsCharts

We update the figures and the content mix automatically every week via the YouTube and Twitch APIs.