I agree. He knew exactly what he was doing. I just quickly checked out his "I'm going to delete my channel" video and noticed 2 things:
1) He monetized it. (Gotta make a few more thousands of dollars before he "deletes" everything right ?)
2) The clickbait top comment below the video is a link to a web page full to the brim of affiliate offers in the guise of "gifts to his subs" - He gets a commission every time one of his "bros" submits their email address to those partner companies. "Enter your email for a chance to win an iphone..."
I have absolutely nothing against pewdiepie making money from his videos, but I feel in this particular case, he's taking advantage of the very people he was claiming to support and most of them are too young to understand that he has played them like a fiddle.