5 high players go away e-sports model on Christmas. What is FaZe Clan?

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“I’d be lying if I said this didn’t hurt, but it had to be done,” e-sports participant Alexander Prynkiewicz mentioned in an X put up on Christmas.

Knowledgeable e-sports model goes topsy turvy after a number of key gamers introduced their exit on Christmas.

Five members of FaZe Clan (pronounced “phase”), an e-sports and content material creation model, introduced their exit from the corporate on Thursday, Dec. 25. The members made up the corporate’s six-person e-sports aggressive staff, per the FaZe Clan website. In addition to competitions, the gamers are recognized for his or her well-liked movies on YouTube and the interactive livestream platform Twitch.

Though reasoning for the “mass exodus” has but to be shared, FaZe Clan co-founder Richard Bengtson, extra generally referred to as Bank, mentioned in an X post on Christmas that he would handle fan issues throughout a Twitch livestream on Dec. 26.

In the meantime, the 5 gamers took to social media to alert followers.

“Left FazeClan,” 27-year-old Alexander Prynkiewicz, popularly referred to as FaZe Adapt, mentioned in an X post on Christmas. “14 years. Over half of my life. I’d be lying if I said this didn’t hurt, but it had to be done. Thank you to everyone who’s been a part of this journey, the best is yet to come.”

FaZe Clan members Jason Nguyen, referred to as JasonTheWeen to viewers; Nick Fosco, referred to as LacyHimself; Jerry Woo, referred to as SilkySzn; and Stable Ronaldo knowledgeable followers with shorter X posts, simply saying “Left FazeClan” on Christmas Day.

Josh Maynard, referred to as YourRage, was the one participant of the six-person staff who had not introduced a go away from the corporate as of Dec. 26.

Neither the 5 creators nor FaZe Clan instantly responded for remark when contacted by USA TODAY on Dec. 26.

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What is FaZe Clan?

Established in 2010, FaZe Clan is self-described as “one of the most prominent influential gaming organizations … designed to reimaging gaming, sports, culture and entertainment,” per the corporate’s LinkedIn. The firm contains an e-sports competitors arm, which recently has been made up of six skilled players, and different content material creators.

Fifteen years in the past, FaZe Clan – then FaZe Sniping – was only a group of three teenage online game content material creators, well-liked for his or her YouTube movies that centered across the recreation “Call of Duty.”

It did not take lengthy for the channel to take off, creating a whole tradition round trick photographs in first-person shooter video video games.

Around 2012, FaZe started getting into e-sports competitions, organized online game tournaments, leisure publication Complex reported.

FaZe Clan’s content material started to shift round 2013-2014, when lots of the creators determined to publish extra vlog-style content material, FaZe Clan members mentioned in a 2020 YouTube video outlining the corporate’s historical past. Around this similar time, some FaZe Clan members started dwelling collectively, permitting them to create much more content material.

Simultaneously, FaZe Clan’s e-sports arm continued to take part in international competitions. In 2019, members of FazeClan took house the highest prize for the inaugural Fortnite World Cup, successful $3 million.

As FaZe took off, manufacturers took discover. Over the years, the corporate has partnered with manufacturers together with Champion, the NFL, Nissan, G Fuel, SteelSeries and Lyrical Lemonade.

In 2021, FaZe made historical past as the primary e-sports staff to be featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

Internal adjustments

Despite FaZe Clan’s successes, the corporate hasn’t been with out controversy. In 2021, the company fired one of its members and suspended three extra for his or her involvement in a cryptocurrency rip-off.

By 2023, the corporate was dropping traction, laying off about 20% of its employees and seeing a change of CEO. By the top of that yr, FaZe Clan was bought by e-sports large GameSquare Holdings.

Despite the inner adjustments, FaZe Clan has continued to compete in e-sports tournaments and a number of other FaZe content material creators proceed to publish movies and host Twitch streams.

Greta Cross is a nationwide trending reporter at USA TODAY. Story thought? Email her at gcross@usatoday.com.