Asmongold

Zack, known as Asmongold (born 1990) is an American Twitch streamer, YouTuber, and content creator. His content primarily focuses on World of Warcraft, but he has covered other video games and topics related to gaming culture. Asmongold is a co-founder and co-owner of the streaming, gaming, and content creation organization One True King (OTK), based in Austin, Texas. He is also a co-owner of Starforge Systems, a computer company specialized in selling prebuilt gaming PCs.

Early life
Asmongold was born in Florida and raised in Austin, Texas. He grew up with an interest in video games, particularly role-playing games (RPGs), and was introduced to World of Warcraft by a friend in 2006, at the age of 16. He quickly became captivated by the game and started playing it extensively. Asmongold later attended college but dropped out to focus on his streaming career.

Career
Asmongold began his online career in 2009 by creating YouTube videos about World of Warcraft, in which he shared his insights, strategies, and game knowledge. His YouTube channel experienced steady growth, and he eventually started live-streaming on Twitch in 2011, initially as a hobby, and he began his active streaming career on Twitch in 2014. Asmongold's content mainly consists of gameplay, guides, discussions, and reviews related to World of Warcraft expansions and patches. Ahead of the 2017 announcement of World of Warcraft Classic, he had long wished for and speculated about the game mode's development. His main Twitch account Asmongold was briefly suspended in August 2017 for a comment he made about survivors displaced by Hurricane Katrina which he later addressed in a TwitLonger clarifying his point of view and reached an understanding with Twitch staff.

By 2019, Asmongold had become one of the most popular streamers on the platform.

Upon the release of Classic in 2019, he surged in overall popularity. He was also one of the platform's most popular World of Warcraft streamers during the 2020 release of Shadowlands. On July 3, 2021, Asmongold started playing Final Fantasy XIV to hundreds of thousands of viewers.

In October 2020, Asmongold co-founded One True King, a streaming and content creation organization, with other notable streamers and content creators, including Mizkif, Esfand, and Tips Out. OTK focuses on creating a wide range of content, such as game streams, podcasts, and charity events. In August 2022, Asmongold announced OTK's new PC building company called Starforge Systems in collaboration with fellow content creator MoistCr1TiKaL. The company was quickly met with backlash due to the allegedly high prices of their products, to which they responded by decreasing their prices by $100.

In 2022, Asmongold started to branch out into a larger variety of streams styles. Asmongold has expressed strong interest in continuing to branch out into creating different types of content. Asmongold opposes pay-to-win mechanics in video games such as Diablo Immortal. In 2022, he reached out to Republican politician Ted Cruz on the possibility of outlawing loot boxes in video games, claiming that they are a loophole to child gambling laws. Cruz agreed with Asmongold's views and expressed interest in meeting him.

On January 31, 2023, it was announced that Asmongold would be hosting a new weekly podcast entitled Steak & Eggs Podcast along with fellow One True King members Emiru and Tectone. Episode 1 was released on February 17, 2023.

Personal life
Before beginning his streaming career, Asmongold worked for the Internal Revenue Service for two tax seasons in 2012-2013. Asmongold attempted to acquire a business degree and was preparing to apply to law schools, but had to abandon that plan as he was taking care of his mother.

In October 2021, his mother died after complications from advanced COPD, leading to his temporary hiatus from streaming.