FPS trick shot videos are alive and well and getting millions of views on TikTok

The classic FPS trickshot video may well be dead and buried, a relic of the later 2000s and early 2010s, but a new type of trick shot video is going viral on TikTok and getting millions upon millions of views. 

Gaming trick shot videos themselves routinely receive thousands of views on the short-form video platform, with games such as Call of Duty, CS:GO, Grand Theft Auto 5, Rainbow Six Siege, and others attracting the most attention.

But the most popular videos by far belong to a pair of “-core” subgenres: 30core and pinkcore.

30core, sometimes called 30theory, is the older of the two trends (although calling something with its first video posted in June 2023 “old” feels incredibly wrong), evolved primarily out of creator Bludlung, who characterized many of the two genres’ features: Gameplay interspersed with sh*tpost videos, frenetic editing, music that wouldn’t normally expect in trickshot videos (i.e. not metal, techno, or dubstep), liberal use of the “Pluh” sound effect, and of course, an intro that features another TikToker making a shoutout.

Pinkcore, an offshoot of 30core, uses more cute imagery, mixing up the sh*tpost memes with cute cat videos and cutesy sound effects. Creators such as Ballincat43 and ISM (imsh*tinmyself) are the leaders of this subgenre, with the former focusing on GTA V content and the latter on Roblox. Pinkcore has also exploded in popularity, surpassing 30core, perhaps because of the cute factor, cat videos being included just being a more accessible “in” for the videos.

It’s hard to pinpoint this trend’s inspiration and evolution, although it almost certainly owes something to the older trick shot videos. But if we had to really pinpoint a common origin for this kind of content, we’d point to that one Do You Really Need Anyone Else? CoD Montage video. That video, posted initially by Twitter/X user @biomez, spliced video of Twitch streamer InvaderVie with CoD trick shot footage.

The original Do You Really Need Anyone Else? video has a kind of “so ridiculous it’s almost earnest” flavor to it. It’s both paying homage to old trick shot videos, while poking a bit of fun at them. And as a result it unironically slaps, and if someone saw this and thought “I want to make more trickshot videos like this” it would make sense. 

FPS Trick shot videos themselves evolved from earnest, if not slightly ironic use of MLG logos, air horns, and explosion graphics into the fully sh*tposting variant later in their life. Now, viewing them after the fact, it’s pretty easy to make fun of those videos and the tropes they used. But instead of doing that, 30core and pinkcore videos are expanding on the sh*tposting aspect to make videos that people genuinely like. Just like the Do You Really Need Anyone Else? Video.

And honestly, it’s nice that this kind of thing even exists and has an audience. 30core and pinkcore feel like a direct line back to the classic days of MLG montages, which were the exact kind of videos that got many people into esports and pro gaming. 

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