Turner “Tfue” Tenney (22) is the most followed streamer on Twitch after Ninja. The online shooter Fortnite made him a star and rich. However, he now explains in an interview why he has turned away from the game.
Turner “Tfue” Tenney currently has 9.2 million followers on Twitch, placing him 2nd in the most followed on the platform. Only Ninja stands ahead of him in 1st place, especially now that he has returned to Twitch.
In terms of hours viewed, he used to be far ahead as well: No streamer was viewed more than Tfue in 2019.
This is how Tfue’s streaming career developed with Fortnite:
- Most of the followers Tfue gained since 2018. That was when his career really took off after previously playing games like H1Z1 or Destiny, where he averaged 100-300 viewers per stream.
- In 2019, he spent 1,987 hours in Fortnite with an average of 44,507 viewers. Tfue replaced Ninja as the leading Fortnite streamer on the platform and set a trend. He was significantly more aggressive than the family-friendly Ninja, is 7 years younger, and made it to the World Cup as a major streamer – something no one else managed.
Tfue played Fortnite only for his career
That has now changed: A few months ago, Tfue started to turn away from Fortnite more and more. He felt burned out and said one would go insane playing the same game for 2 years.
Instead, he played more Call of Duty: Warzone. In an interview on the “Brand Risk Podcast,” he explained why he no longer plays Fortnite.
There came a point where I was only playing Fortnite for more viewers and my career. I then stopped paying attention and thought I had gotten the most out of Fortnite. After all, I became successful when the game was at its peak.
Tfue on the podcast
His feeling of burnout from Fortnite is also evident here. He felt that he would “dig himself into a hole” if he continued playing it. Grinding “90s” (a well-known term in Fortnite referring to building upward in a 90-degree motion) for 2 years would eventually just become too much.
Mobile users please skip to 2 minutes and 14 seconds.
Viewer numbers continue to drop
How does this affect: Even when he started playing less Fortnite in August 2020, his viewer numbers on Twitch dropped. While he was still the most viewed streamer in 2019, he fell to 7th place in August 2020, even though he still occasionally streamed Fortnite.
His complete turn away from the game brought about a further decline in viewer numbers. In the last 180 days, he is now seen in 16th place among the most viewed streamers. (via sullygnome)
It is unclear whether this decrease in viewers really bothers him. As the streamer mentioned in the podcast, he has stopped looking at how many viewers Fortnite brings him. After all, he had already taken a break because he had achieved everything and was still not happy. He now seems to just want to have fun again in a “new” game.
