In 2019, the e-sports scene was talking about a young Brit and his mother, as she took the then 15-year-old out of school so he could spend more time on Fortnite. He has since moved on from the Battle Royale and is now successful in another shooter.
Who is the 15-year-old and what is his story? In 2019, Epic Games had major news for all players of Fortnite’s Battle Royale: The first and only Fortnite World Cup was announced, featuring a prize pool of 30 million US dollars.
The best 100 solo players and the 50 best duos from around the world came together to compete against each other. Each qualified player was guaranteed at least $50,000 in winnings, while the winner of the solo championship was expected to earn even $3,000,000. Among the participants of the World Championship was the then 15-year-old Benjy David Fish, better known as Benjyfishy. He qualified for the World Championship in both the solo and duo competitions, ensuring him 100,000 $.
With a lot of money at stake in the tournament and a unique opportunity for Benjyfishy, the e-sports athlete’s mother made a remarkable decision: She took her son out of school and instead had him taught at home by a private tutor – with a customized schedule.
What he would have learned in school over 2 years was now to be taught to him in 3 years. This way, he would have more time for Fortnite and preparation for important tournaments without feeling tired in school the next day.
The Beginning of a Career
At the following World Championship, Benjyfishy was not among the big winners, but he managed to build a career in the shooter. Still in the same year, his Twitch channel grew significantly. While he had fewer than 1,000 followers in January 2019, by December there were already over 531,000. At that time, over 8,000 people were watching him simultaneously on average (via Sullygnome).
At just 16 years old, Benjyfishy had won prize money amounting to 539,623 US dollars and was able to continue growing his Twitch channel. In 2020, he was among the 100 most-watched streamers. Suddenly, he was competing with streaming giants like Ludwig and Gronkh in terms of watch time and left renowned names like moistcr1tical and Ninja behind.
But as his career as a content creator gained momentum, his path as a professional Fortnite player began to falter. Epic Games canceled the second iteration of the Fortnite World Championship planned for 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and never brought the grand event back. Initially, there were still the seasonal Fortnite Champions Series, but that too would ultimately disappear in 2021 – thus closing the opportunities for an e-sports career with Fortnite.
Break and New Beginning in Another Game
In the summer of 2022, the break followed: Benjyfishy announced he was ending his Fortnite career. The then 18-year-old Brit stated that he had “lost his love for Fortnite.” He wanted to be a professional gamer because it would give him a job he enjoyed. At that point, that was no longer the case, so it seemed “meaningless to continue with something” that no longer brought him joy. However, he had already found a new calling: Valorant.
Benjyfishy mentioned at that time that he was playing a lot of Valorant and was having as much fun as he hadn’t had since 2019. He even played it when he wasn’t streaming and wanted to dedicate himself to Riot Games’ tactical shooter. Initially as a streamer, and later as an e-sports athlete.
Later that same year, he joined Team Enterprise Esports as a substitute player but switched to the Spanish organization Team Heretics just half a year later. He is still active there today.
The Situation in Winter 2025: From Content Creator to Valorant Pro
In Valorant, Benjyfishy is following almost the opposite path of his Fortnite career. This started as a professional gamer and allowed him to establish himself as a content creator. In Valorant, he started as a content creator and then became a successful professional player.
With his current teammates at Team Heretics, he soon achieved his first successes:
- 2nd place at the Valorant Masters 2024 in Shanghai – Prize money: 200,000 $
- 2nd place at the Valorant Champions 2024 – Prize money: 400,000 $
In 2025, the first title victory followed: In July, Benjyfishy’s team won the Valorant tournament at the Esports World Cup 2025, previously known as Gamers8. This is an e-sports event in Riyadh, initiated by the Saudi Arabian “Public Investment Fund” (a state fund). Although it is not an official tournament organized by Riot Games, it brought the Brit’s team a prize of 500,000 US dollars.
The big goal for the now 21-year-old Brit is likely to be winning the Valorant Champions 2026, the most important official tournament of the tactical shooter. At the Valorant Champions 2025, Team Heretics was eliminated early against the later fourth-placed players from Paper Rex and finished the competition only in 5th-6th place.
In Valorant, Benjyfishy’s career is currently on a good path overall, and he has successfully established himself as an e-sports athlete in the scene. However, his Twitch channel had taken a big hit in the process. In 2025, he was only live 71 times and could only average around 2360 viewers – the lowest annual average he has ever had.
