YouTube star Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast, has co-written a novel — but the book has reportedly performed poorly in pre-order sales.
The Most Dangerous Games, Donaldson’s thriller debut written in collaboration with Alex Cross author James Patterson, is currently “on track to be a historic bomb,” according to news service Semafor, via The Hollywood Reporter.
A fictionalized version of a large-scale MrBeast survival game, the novel tells the story of 100 strangers who sign up for a contest to win a billion dollars. The only thing standing in their way? A series of deadly challenges that begin on the thinning ice of Antarctica — oh, and the deadly allegiances that form between the other players through the contest.
It all sounds a bit like Battle Royale meets Squid Game, which you would think would be a winning formula. But apparently there are concerns that the book’s presales numbers “numbering in the four digits” is just a “tiny fraction of what th epublisher will need to justify Patterson’s and YouTuber Jimmy Donaldson’s hefty fees.”
Herein, it seems, lies the problem. Because while the report lists The Most Dangerous Games as being “on track to be a historic bomb,” presales in the single-digit thousands are typical for books of this kind, per a publishing source who spoke with IGN today. And time will tell how well the book sells over time, as Donaldson promotes it in YouTube videos, and as the lucrative end of year sales season nears. Indeed, the YouTuber has already appeared in a video titled “Read My Book, You Could Win $1,000,000”, which should help sell a few more copies.
Still, publisher HarperCollins could be on the hook for a sizable sum regardless of how the book sells, depending on the advance paid to Donaldson and Patterson simply to secure the publishing rights and receive the manuscript. How much this was, we can but speculate.
“A thousand strangers receive the invitation,” reads a blurb for the novel. “One hundred make the cut. The Games begin in Antarctica, where one wrong step on the ice kills you, and they never let up: Shark water off a remote Chilean island, desert heat that cooks you where you stand, storm-battered peaks, and caves so black you cannot find your own hand. No rescue. No second chances. A billion dollars to whoever is still standing.
“Then the terrain stops being the thing that can kill you, and the other players start. Alliances turn into ambushes. Trust becomes the sharpest weapon. And somewhere above it all, a hidden voice is watching every move, testing, deciding who deserves to survive.”
The Most Dangerous Games officially launches today, priced $35 for a hardcover copy.
Image credit: Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty Images
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
