While video game streaming may seem like its all fun and games, the profession can be quite stressful. Being a public figure after all does come with its ups and downs. Now, professional Fortnite player Turner “Tfue” Tenney announced that he would be taking a break from streaming.
Tenney announced that he was “taking some time off streaming,” as part of a recent series of tweets. The player did not give any specific details of why he was taking a break, or how long it would take. However, his succeeding tweets confirmed that he was generally unhappy. “I have anything I could ask for in life but for some reason I’m not happy lately,” stated Tenney. He followed this up with another tweet where he explained that he felt “trapped in a negative crawl space in my mind.”
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The past few months have generally been tough for the streamer, given his recent controversies. Just earlier this month, he was caught saying a racial slur on a livestream (while also trying to hide it), which wasn’t a new thing for him as he did the same thing last year. But he’s also had other professional problems too. Tenney left esports organization FaZe Clan a few months ago in May after they had a falling out over the terms of his contract. He claimed that the latter had violated both California Law and the Talent Agency Act. Additionally, he claimed that the organization took 80% of his earnings.
The feud eventually saw both sides taking each other to court. Tenney sued FaZe Clan, stating that the team had limited his ability to pursue his profession, while his lawyer called the contract “oppressive” and illegal. In response to this, FaZe Clan fired back with its own suit, claiming that Tfue was still under contract until 2021 and that his statements violated a non-disparagement clause in it. It also contested Tenney’s claims in regards to his earnings, stating that it only took $60,000 of the millions that the player was making.
The legal issues with FaZe Clan are only part of the issues surrounding Tenney however. He’s also been quite vocal in expressing his displeasure with both Epic Games and Twitch. Over the past year, Tenney has consistently voiced his frustrations with how Epic has handled Fortnite‘s updates, going as far as to state that the game was “dying” because of them. More recently, Tenney took a shot at Twitch, stating that fellow Fortnite streamer Tyler “Ninja” Blevins made the right choice when he moved to rival service Mixer.
More recently, Tenney ran into issues with Dennis “Cloakzy” Lepore and Thomas “72hrs” Mulligan. Both were supposed to be his teammates in Fortnite‘s Arena Trios. However, all three were offered money by EA to stream Madden NFL 20 instead. While Tenney declined to focus on practice for the Arena Trios tournament, the other two players ended up taking the offer from EA without telling him.
“Madden offered me over $140,000 to play their game, and I declined because I thought we were going to play the tournament this weekend, and they took the offer without telling me last second,” revealed Tfue in a live stream.
As part of this, Tenney also tweeted that he was looking for new teammates for the Arena Trios tournament. However, with his decision to take a break, it looks like these plans may be on hold.
For his part, Lepore has been supportive of Tenney’s decision. Despite their apparent falling out, he told his former teammate that he had “nothing but love from everyone around you.” Other streamers have been supportive as well, offering support and telling Tenney to keep his head held up high. Some, such fellow Fortnite pro Destroy, have reached out to remind Tenney that there are always people “available to talk to” if he needed the support.
Tenney taking a break marks the hiatus of one of the biggest names in streaming. Until recently, Tenney was the most watched streamer on Twitch (thanks to Ninja’s departure), with WoW Classic streamer Asmongold only recently taking the top spot because to the popularity of Blizzard’s throwback MMO. With Tenney’s time away however, the streamer rankings will most likely be shaken up once again.
[Image Credit: Tfue/Twitch]
