The Fortnite player Turner “Tfue” Tenney is one of the biggest stars on Twitch. He sued his esports clan FaZe because they would not let him out of the contract. Now, the esports organization is counter-suing: Tfue has earned 20 million USD since he joined the clan, giving little of it back, and FaZe has taught him so much.
These are the accusations against Tfue: There are two major accusations:
- Tfue violated his contract and made disparaging remarks about the company, FaZe. He allegedly violated the “Gamer Agreement,” stole confidential information, collided with FaZe’s contracts and business partnerships, and told others to leave FaZe and compete against the clan
- And Tfue intends to start his own competing esports organization. To establish this organization, Tfue is using some of FaZe’s trade secrets. Tfue denies this, however. He said he is too stupid for that.
FaZe has therefore filed a counterclaim against Tfue. He had sued the clan months ago, in May 2019.
Tfue’s accusation against FaZe: They made him sign an unlawful contract that heavily favored the clan. And they simply would not let him out of that contract.
The contract that later came to light contained some clauses that prohibited Tfue from acting against the clan in the manner he did.
According to the contract, FaZe was entitled to between 20% and 80% of Tfue’s earnings. However, FaZe stated that they never collected these amounts – only took 60,000$.
FaZe says Tfue owes them a lot
This is FaZe’s argument: It is stated in the new complaint that the FaZe clan has shown the player how to become more than just a talented player.
The FaZe clan has made a professional out of Tfue, showing him the business and social media, providing him with the techniques that make the FaZe clan so successful.
Surely this has contributed to Tfue’s significant success in Fortnite, on Twitch, and elsewhere: He has earned over 20 million $, since he joined the FaZe clan in April 2018. Before that, he had earned virtually nothing.
So far, FaZe has only taken 60,000 $ from the money – now they are demanding more. But they do not specify an exact amount.
FaZe says: “We had no choice anymore”
This is what FaZe says: The CEO of the clan, Lee Trunk, tells Bloomberg in an interview that they saw no other choice: “It has become impossible to reach any other solution through discussions.”
This is what Tfue’s lawyer says: He says it is the first time in the history of esports that an organization has the audacity to try to enforce a contract that is clearly illegal.
The lawyer accuses FaZe of now circumventing the current legal dispute in California by filing the lawsuit in New York.
He insists that the FaZe clan does not have the license to contract talent under California law. FaZe would be citing an illegal contract.
This is how successful Tfue is: Since Tfue joined the FaZe clan, his popularity has indeed exploded. He currently has 11 million subscribers on YouTube, nearly 7 million followers on Twitch, and 2 million followers on Twitter alone.
Currently, Tfue is number 3 on Twitch after Ninja, who no longer streams there, and just narrowly behind Shroud.
With 20 million $ since April 2018, Tfue would have earned roughly as much or even more than his rival Ninja.
