Turner “Tfue” Tenney, widespread Fornite streamer with greater than 11 million Twitch subscribers and ex-Faze Clan member, introduced that he was going to take a critical break from “gaming and streaming.” On a tearful YouTube video, the controversial streamer shared his exhaustion over the grind of content material creation.
Within the 40-minute video, Tenney shares footage from his first Twitch livestreams and YouTube movies, and digs into his first impressions of Fortnite — a sport that he thought was for youths. He additionally explains his purpose for the hiatus, specifically that he hasn’t had time for a lot of his life exterior of gaming because of working six to eight hour days, and notes that he’s 25-years-old. “I used gaming to type of escape from actuality,” he stated, within the YouTube video. “Now I exploit actuality to flee from fucking work. I simply really feel fucking kinda trapped typically, you understand.”
Tenney additionally mentions that he’s been a Twitch companion for eight years and thanks his followers, earlier than acknowledging he must take a break. “I simply must take day without work, you understand,” he stated. He thanks his household for supporting him via his “early profession,” together with a lot of livestreamers who he feels helped his profession. On the finish of the video he notes, “I’ll be again sometime.”
Tenney has been a content material creator since at the very least 2014, and rose to fame by livestreaming Fortnite — making a reputation as one of many high streamers of the battle royale sport. He joined the Faze Clan content material collective in 2018, earlier than submitting a lawsuit in 2019, claiming the group withheld of share of brand name deal income. In 2019, Tenney additionally made headlines as a result of he used the n-word on a livestream whereas he was enjoying Minecraft. On the time, Twitch didn’t reply to The Verge’s request for remark, nor did it seem to touch upon the scenario. This wasn’t the primary time Tenney used a racial slur — he used one other slur on a livestream in 2018.
This can be very troublesome to make a residing wage as a Twitch streamer, and extremely troublesome to develop into an affiliate creator. Even the streamers with probably the most followers are beholden to an intense schedule, streaming a full time schedule (and infrequently extra) to remain related, and reap the advantage of advert income. Tenney can also be leaving at a time when excessive profile content material creators are taking costly offers to stream on different platforms, notably Kick — making it clear simply how demanding livestreaming on Twitch could be.