I've been a fan since the early YOUTUBE '06 era / Screwattack days.
For me it's pure nostalgia and been a part of my teen / adult life since, watched each episodes of AVGN multiple times and his other stuff too.
It's very clear you can't keep the quality and passion for this long and 200+ episodes without diminishing return, in France we got Joueur du Grenier, IMO the best "ripp-off" or AVGN clone that still kick ass to this day, even more so than AVGN, mainly due to being a true duo (Fred et Seb) with a very great writer (Karim Debbache) and they increased production value exponentially as soon as they got money rolling in, check out their videos it's amazing, bottom line they basically surpassed James since 2012 with their Dragon's Lair review that was their break out moment (imo) because of all the above and they worked with other amazing content creators / youtubers to make interesting stuff, unlike James before he did some celebs episodes.
But then again the NERD formula is what I like the most, the shit jokes, practical effect, the rage etc... of all the clones we got over the years (Nostalgia critic, Happy video game Nerd (now Stop skeleton from fighting, Irate Gamer...) the only one I felt genuinely sad was Spoony, Noah antwiler, what a waste man, his stuff was amazing too bad he went completely inept since.
AVGN got so many good stuff, the classic or golden era is still enjoyable to this day, since the Screenwave partnership (and the AVGN Movie) it's clearly hit and miss, AVGN could have ended for me in the Vegas Stakes episode which I consider one of the all time best episode he made.
I still love what he does, now that's the Screenwave guys are out, he's returned to the more classic formula for the episodes which I prefer so hey, long live the king!