With 196,616 downloads in over 90 countries, Sophomore Galen Quinn has developed a 5 star app called Illuminati Soundboard.

Quinn produced the soundboard by using popular sound bites from MLG videos and streaming. MLG is a group of professional gamers on YouTube who record their voices while playing video games.

Some are informative videos and walkthroughs which are popular among dedicated gamers who want to improve their skills by watching the professionals. Others are funny videos of people recording their reactions while playing games like Five Nights at Freddy’s, Garry’s Mod, or COD.

Felix Arvid Ulf Kjelberg, known commonly by his YouTube name Pewdiepie, is the most well known comical commentator. Kjelberg’s videos have a collective total of 10.1 billion views making him the number one YouTuber in the world. (Business Insider)

“I enjoy video games but I’m not a die-hard gamer,” Freshman Aaron Schatz said, “so I spend hours watching these videos because they’re hilarious. I don’t do it to ‘improve my gaming’ I do it because it’s entertaining.”

The Illuminati is a cult that believes the world is controlled by a society of wealthy and powerful leaders that can alter public opinion. The relationship between Illuminati and MLG has nothing to do with religion or video games. “Overall the theme is a parody,” Quinn said. Quinn thinks of the Illuminati as just a conspiracy theory, “Illuminati is joke, just like MLG and all of the recordings on the app.”

Quinn stated that, “A person would probably understand why it is a thing if they were active on the Internet when videos about ‘is the illuminati real’, ‘mlg montages’ , or if they saw ‘shrek is love, shrek is life’.”

As a person who is unfamiliar with these internet videos, Sophomore Nina VanPopering described Illuminati Soundboard as, “a bunch of loud, random noises that don’t seem to have any relation to the Illuminati.”

Quinn’s Illuminati soundboard app is not the only Illuminati Soundboard available on iTunes, however it was the first. While Quinn’s app is 99 cents, the other Illuminati Soundboard app developed by Component Studios is free to download, making it more popular.

Even though Quinn has less downloads than the other app, it has much better ratings and reviews. iTunes user Ricky350 stated, “I had severe depression. Everyday I contemplated ending it all… as a last resort I went on the AppStore and I found this app. The memes were so dank, and the pepes were so rare that I rethought my whole life.”

Quinn’s app has grossed over $50,000, since its launch in 2014. However, Quinn himself has only made $31,000 because Apple takes 30% of all profits.

Initially the app was free but after having a rate of approximately 10,00 downloads a day, he decided to charge 99 cents.

Illuminati Soundboard is a nationally and internationally ranked app. In the US it was ranked 128th overall app and 60th most popular game app in the App Store and in the United Kingdom it was rated 23rd most popular overall app and the number 1 music app.

Quinn developed the app completely from scratch. He did all of the programing himself, and with help from sophomore Michael Gurtison, pulled specific sounds from the internet.

It takes time and money to develop an app. In order to get an app published, it must be submitted to Apple so they can review it and decide whether or not it is ok to publish. If Apple approves the maker has to pay an annual fee, “it costs $100 a year to publish on the App Store,” Quinn stated.

Even though Quinn himself isn’t the most educated or enthusiastic MLG fan, he successfully accomplished his initial goal, “I didn’t even need to understand it to make it, I just saw an opportunity to make some money off of people who were watching those videos so I took the opportunity.”