The Twitch star and professional Fortnite player Turner “Tfue” Tenney sued his own e-sports clan FaZe in May 2019, claiming they had given him an unfair contract. They filed a counterclaim. After 15 months, both parties reached a mutual and out-of-court settlement. Tfue is now finally free.
This was the situation: FaZe had signed Tfue and wanted to have him compete in their Fortnite team because a player had dropped out. This was around April 2018.
At that time, Tfue was still a fairly unknown player who had previously played Destiny 2 and H1Z1.
The head of FaZe, Ricky Banks, once proudly recounted how he discovered the blonde boy, brought him to Hollywood, sold him on the great life there, convinced him to join his clan, and had him sign a contract.
However, Tfue became the new superstar of Fortnite and Twitch within a year. The young man, who was so good at Fortnite and entertainingly aggressive, developed into one of the biggest rivals of Tyler “Ninja” Blevins. Tfue became the new star in the e-sports sky over Fortnite. Furthermore, his channel on Twitch exploded.
Life in the FaZe clan and the luxurious house of the clan in Los Angeles did not appeal to Tfue. He moved back to Florida to be with his family.
Apparently, Tfue wanted to get out of his contract – but the clan wouldn’t let him. So he filed a lawsuit. It was the first major legal dispute in the field of e-sports.
Tfue: They want 80% of my earnings from third parties
This was Tfue’s lawsuit: In May 2019, Turner “Tfue” Tenney sued his clan FaZe. They allegedly had him sign an unlawful contract when he was 20 years old. The contract was completely one-sided:
- He had to give up up to 80% of his income from third parties
- The clan withheld money that was owed to him
- They rejected sponsor deals in his name
- Furthermore, it was a gag contract and unlawful
FaZe: Tfue earned $20,000,000, we only took $60,000
This was FaZe’s lawsuit: The FaZe clan filed its own lawsuit against Tfue three months after Tfue’s lawsuit:
- Tfue violated his contract
- He stole trade secrets
- He got into conflict with FaZe’s business contracts and their business relationships
The FaZe clan emphasized that they wanted to come to an agreement with Tfue and offer him a new, better contract. But he refused to engage in any discussions. However, they always treated him fairly and hardly made any money with him. They only took $60,000 from Tfue, who had earned $20 million since joining FaZe in April 2018.
We wish each other only the best
This is now the solution: As several US sites report (via forbes), both parties have now published a statement:
FaZe and Turner Tenney are pleased to announce that they have resolved their dispute and settled the legal matters. The parties wish each other all the best in their future endeavors.
There are no further statements on whether any money has changed hands in any direction.
Both sides, normally very active on social media, are notably silent regarding the case.
But Tfue now seems to be free and out of the contract with FaZe.
Did Tfue have to buy himself out of the contract?
This is what’s behind it: The situation was actually:
- Tfue desperately wanted to get out of the contract and do his own thing
- FaZe desperately wanted to keep him and wouldn’t let him go under any circumstances: They had discovered a huge talent early and contracted him. Now they wanted to benefit from Tfue and the Fortnite hype
What is clear now: The deal is over. The question is, however, how exactly it ended, whether and how much money Tfue had to pay to buy himself out of the contract.
This is a similar situation to Dr Disrespect. Normally, we are used to getting every detail from the gaming industry. But here, both sides seem to be holding back significantly regarding the details of the resolution. There may be legal constraints.
What seems important for Tfue is that this matter is now resolved.
In May 2019, Fortnite was huge and “Tfue’s gag contract” was a topic that moved the world. Because the superstar of Twitch received only $2000 salary per month. And the contract was extremely one-sided.
At that time, the contract leaked through dark sources:
Fortnite: Tfue’s contract with FaZe leaked – Twitch star with $2000 salary
