Shirley Curry, the 88-year-old YouTuber better known as Grandma Skyrim, has announced her retirement, saying she's “bored to death” of making gaming videos.
Curry uploaded his first Skyrim gameplay video to YouTube in 2015 and had amassed over 1 million subscribers by 2021. Despite suffering a stroke that same year, Curry soon returned to his gaming chair and has continued to post videos of his adventures in Tamriel ever since.
“I do it just for fun, but it's not fun anymore. I'm tired of this and it bores me to death. So now I make the final and definitive decision to not make any more gaming videos.”
Curry doesn't plan on disappearing from YouTube entirely, though. Despite admitting to her followers that “I'm old and tired, and I don't feel like doing much anymore,” she says she'll still be making vlogs “from time to time.” These will include updates on her life, the books she's reading, and maybe even some of her own writing. And away from the camera, Curry is “going to start making a quilt that I've wanted to make for a long time.”
And as Curry notes (before signing off with a “See you in a blog later, I promise”), those who miss their usual gaming escapades have nearly a decade’s worth of past videos to enjoy. And if that’s still not enough Skyrim Grandma, there’s always the fan-made Shirley Follower Mod from 2021, which adds Curry to Skyrim as a two-handed barbarian companion, complete with a fully fleshed-out, lore-fitting backstory.
That particular mod came about as a result of a fan request to “immortalize” Curry in The Elder Scrolls 6, after she lamented that the game was probably so far away that she “probably wouldn't be able to play it.” Three years later, The Elder Scrolls 6 is still missing, but here's to Curry's well-deserved retirement from gaming, and we wish that quilt all the best.