Minecraft is the world’s bestselling video game and Dream’s most popular videos have tens of millions of views, with one having been watched more than 115 million times.
“Hi, my name is Clay, otherwise known as Dream,” he said in a five-minute video viewed more than 12 million times.
With a friend moving to the US, where Dream is based, he wanted to be able to go out more, without worrying about leaks or speculation, he said.
“I’ve been bunkered up,” Dream said. “The people trying to leak my face, trying to find out what I look like… it’s just a tiny bit too much.”
His face would remain absent from his Minecraft videos, he said, but he may start making “IRL content” – set in real life – with his friends.
In the days leading up to his public reveal, Dream showed his face to several close contacts, asking them to post their reactions online.
One, Karl Jacobs, who said he was among Dream’s best friends, said he “looks like a baseball player”.
And almost a million people have watched a video of Dream revealing his face to popular technology YouTuber Marques Brownlee – despite the two never having spoken before meeting virtually.