Tfue settles lawsuit against Faze Clan over ‘oppressive’ gaming contract
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The lawsuit was active for more than a year
By Julia Alexander
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Tfue/YouTube
Turner “Tfue” Tenney and gaming organization Faze Clan have settled an ongoing lawsuit started by the former Faze member more than a year ago.
Court filings today confirmed that both Tenney and Faze Clan “voluntarily dismissed” the lawsuit. Although no other details were given, a statement from Tenney’s lawyer to The Hollywood Reporter notes that “they have resolved their disputes and settled their litigations,” adding that both parties “wish one another the best of luck in future endeavors. ” It’s unclear if there was any monetary aspect to the resolution.
Tenney, better known to his fans as Tfue, is one of the most popular creators, boasting more than 12 million subscribers on YouTube and 8.9 million followers on Twitch, according to Twitch Tracker. Tenney joined Faze Clan in 2018, and built the majority of his audience while with the esports organization. The original lawsuit filed by Tenney in May 2019 claimed that Faze withheld his share of brand deal revenue. The lawsuit also claimed that Faze undercut his earningsfrom streaming and tournaments. According to the complaint, Faze’s contract gave the organization the ability to take up to 80 percent of his earnings in certain situations, although Faze Clan denied ever taking so large a share.
Faze Clan countersued Tenney in August 2019, claiming the star had violated his contract by speaking out against the company and allegedly trying to form a rival e-sports organization. Faze claimed Tenney made more than $20 million from various revenue sources including streaming, gaming endorsements, and sponsorships, and that he “shared almost none of this income with Faze Clan.
” At the time, Faze was seeking compensation from Tenney for unspecified damages, alongside injunctive relief to prevent him from revealing any supposedly confidential information, disparaging the company publicly, and potentially interfering with its current roster of talent or any future business deals.
Now, one of the most high profile e-sports lawsuits has come to an end. Had they not come to an agreement, they were on track for a trial in October based in New York. While we don’t know the specifics of the settlement, it is unlikely that Tenney will work with Faze Clan again in a professional capacity. Tenney currently streams full time on Twitch, and maintains a sizable audience on YouTube.
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Tfue and FaZe Clan reach settlement over contract lawsuit
❘ Published: 2020-08-26T19:36:11
❘ Updated: 2020-08-27T18:56:50
Fortnite star Tfue and esports giant FaZe Clan have finally settled their feud outside of court.
The long saga of streaming star Turner ‘Tfue’ Tenney’s lawsuit against FaZe Clan finally seems to have come to a close as both parties have said they’ve now settled outside of court.
Back in May of 2019, Tfue stunned the internet when it was revealed that he was suing FaZe Clan for over an “oppressive contract” that allegedly restricted his business opportunities and claimed that the org took up to 80 percent of his earnings.
Since then, the two parties went back and forth between cases in both California and New York. In July of 2020, a California judge dismissed several claims in the case and it seemed like we were destined to see a showdown between the two play out in New York courts.
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That is, until August 26, when according to an email sent to Dexerto, both Tfue and Faze have announced they’ve settled the lawsuit outside of court, putting the legal odyssey to an end and releasing the Fortnite star from the org.
Twitch: Epic Games
The email claims FaZe and Tfue have “resolved their disputes” but didn’t mention how much it cost.
“Faze and Turner Tenney are pleased to announce they have resolved their disputes and settled their litigations,” the email from both sides legal teams read. “The parties wish one another the best of luck in future endeavors.”
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The details of how exactly the lawsuit was settled, including how much money might have changed hands, is unknown, but it must have been attractive enough an offer to both sides for them to drop the 15-month contract dispute.
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- Read More: Tfue explains why he can’t play Fortnite anymore
All eyes were on Tfue and FaZe, with the lawsuit being the first major one of its kind we’ve seen in esports, with a streamer/player taking on their sponsoring org over their piece of the pie, so to speak.
Tenney’s might not have been the first, but he and FaZe Clan can definitely be considered two of the biggest names in Fortnite, which definitely made it the most publicized.
FaZe Clan
After being released from FaZe, it’s unknown what Tfue is planning next, or if he’ll join with another org in the future.
Minus however much money either party received in the settlement, it’s pretty clear where FaZe Clan stands now that this is all over with Tenney no longer part of the organization.
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- Read More: Tfue & Symfuhny reveal their Warzone settings for dominating enemies
What’s less clear is what Tfue will do now that he’s finally free from FaZe. He’s continued to be a successful streamer and build his brand on Twitch the entire time lawyers were battling it out in court, but whether or not he’ll join another esports org in the future or continue to go it alone is unknown.
Tfue Wiki & Bio: Net Worth, Age & More
About Tfue
Turner «Tfue» Tenney is one of the most popular streamers from the US. His twitch channel is currently the second most followed channel in the world with over 10.4 million subscribers. He is known for his incredible talent in Fortnite. Not surprisingly, Tfue is a professional esports player, formerly a member of FaZe Clan, a professional esports organization. However, Tenney also has a dark side as he has received several bans from Epic Games and Twitch in the past. nine0005
Who is Tfue?
Turner Ellis Tenney, well known by his online alias Tfue, was born in Indian Rocks Beach, Florida in 1998. He has a sister, Alexandra, and an older brother named Jack Tenney Pierce, who is also a famous YouTuber and gamer. We don’t have any information about his parents, we only know that his father’s name is Richard.
There are many rumors about Tfue’s status. However, he never revealed much information about his personal life.
The last girl — and probably the only one we know about — was Corrina Kopf, an Instagram star and Youtuber. However, Turner is no longer in a relationship with her, but they remain friends. He really cares about his personal life. Far from the stereotypical homebody gamer, Tfue enjoys swimming, surfing, skateboarding, cycling and also skimboarding. nine0005
Jobs
Tfue started his career at the age of 12 and he created a Youtube channel with his older brother Jack Tenney. The name of the Youtube channel was JOOGSQUAD and their content was made up of trampoline tricks, surfing, kick scooters and skateboarding. After that, he started playing online games and started his live broadcasting career.
Tfue was a professional player in other battle royale games such as h2Z1 where he represented Denial Esports in 2017. Later that year, he decided to leave the gaming and esports organization, joining Team Rogue to become a member of their PUBG roster. . nine0005
In April 2018, Tfue left Rogue and signed with FaZe Clan as a professional Fortnite player, which is when he gained immense popularity.
In May 2019, Tfue started legal proceedings against FaZe over his contract. After 15 months of lawsuits, both parties eventually reached a settlement in August 2020, releasing Tfue from his contract with FaZe. While he was a member of FaZe, he played not only as a solo player, but also as a duo with teammate Dennis Cloakzy. nine0005
Lately, Turner has been playing games other than Fortnite. For example, he does speed runs in Minecraft, plays Warzone, Among Us or other currently trendy games.
How many followers does Tfue have?
It has already been said that Tfue started his career back in 2012 when he shared the YouTube channel JOOGSQUAD with his brother. In May 2014, he launched his own channel, initially focused on Call of Duty and Destiny. At the end of 2016, he moved to h2Z1 and then to PUBG. His channel only had 70,000 subscribers until he was invited to FaZe in April 2018. nine0005
Tfue Twitch and YouTube both exploded heavily after he became a member of FaZe Clan.
On May 31, 2018, he reached the milestone of 1 million subscribers. His popularity skyrocketed as the number of subscribers increased by a million every following month. He received his diamond play button for 10 million subscribers on March 30, 2019.
He started streaming on Twitch in 2015 and his subscriber count has been growing in a similar fashion to YouTube. On February 13, 2021, Tfue surpassed 10 million subscribers. To date, Tfue Twitch has over 10.4 million subscribers, making it the second most popular Twitch streamer right behind Ninja. In total, his channel has over 283,000,000 views. Whenever it airs, it averages around 30,000 viewers! Tfue is approaching the twitch subscription active user mark, currently has 7.900 followers.
How much does Tfue make per year?
Tfue is one of the richest and highest paid Twitch stars in the world. His earnings mainly consist of live streaming and online gaming via Twitch and YouTube. His participation in various tournaments has made him one of the biggest professional players in the world.
The amount of income depends mainly on his skills, experience, accuracy and fan base. Tfue’s estimated net worth in 2021 is over $10 million. nine0005
His main source of income comes from his Youtube Ads, Twitch subscriptions, donations, game endorsements, sponsors and income from competitive Fortnite tournaments. Tfue currently has around 8,000 paying subscribers, plus if we add in the donations he receives during his streams, that means he makes millions a year from his Twitch income.
His YouTube channel also brings in a lot of income. With 12 million subscribers and over a billion video views, his estimated income is at least $1 million a year. As a professional player, he has also earned a significant amount of money from tournament prizes. His biggest win was the $510,000 grand prize split between him and his duo partner Cloakzy. nine0005
tfue controversy
Tfue’s two biggest disagreements involve FaZe Clan, who he signed a contract with, and Ninja, who was his biggest rival in popularity.
Tfue VS. FaZe Clan
Tenney signed a contract with FaZe Clan in April 2018, and a year later, in May 2019, when his popularity was growing, he began to realize how unprofitable this contract was. The team reportedly took up to 80% of his earnings. Three months after he filed a lawsuit and a counterclaim. He even made a short video «My response to #ReleaseTheContract» in which Tfue tried to explain the situation, and the video went viral in no time. nine0005
A long trial began and they spent 15 long months in court. FaZe Clan and Tfue settled their dispute out of court. They shared on their social sites, “FaZe and Turner Tenney are happy to announce the end of their differences and disputes. Both sides wish each other good luck in the future.» Whatever the case, Tfue is now released from his contract. But whether he decides to sign with another organization in the future remains to be seen.
Tfue VS. Ninja
It’s no secret that Ninja and Tfue are rivals for many reasons.
For many years they have been fighting for the title of the best player and streamer. It all started with h2Z1, then PUBG, and finally Fortnite. Their feud seemingly died down when Ninja switched from Twitch to streaming platform Mixer for a couple of months in August 2019.of the year. It didn’t really end. In late 2019, Tfue tweeted, «Fortnite sucks, now it happened?», and Ninja defended the game, saying, «I’ve been really enjoying the game lately since the Gotham City update. If you don’t enjoy the game, stop playing and frying it all the time.»
On top of that, there was an accident when someone hacked Ninja’s Twitter and invited Tfue to a fight. Although Ninja got his account back soon, Tfue decided to react to this video in which he challenged the Ninja to a real fight like KSI and Logan Paul had done in the past. Ninja simply responded with a simple tweet: “I have no interest in fighting you @TTfue. I don’t hate you, I don’t want you to fail, but I also don’t appreciate you using my Twitter as a hack.
advertising move. This was a breach of privacy that no one deserves to deal with, you made things worse for me and helped him.»0005
Accidentally leaked phone number
Another controversy occurred on April 25, 2020 when MrBeast hosted the Rock Paper Scissors charity tournament in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. There were 32 influencers in the tournament, and Turner was one of them. Tfue decided to stream the event live to share their point of view, but the URL of the call was accidentally leaked, where they were all. This was not his only mistake, Turner also accidentally revealed Mr. Beest’s phone number and he bitterly regretted it, trying to fix it with various apologies and even donating $10,000 to Mr. Beast. nine0005
Merits
Tfue has been successful in tournaments, several of them:
- Fall Skirmish Series — Week 6 (Twitchcon) (duo: Cloak) — 6th place, October 2018
- WC 2019 NAE Qualifiers Week 3 — 1st place , April 2019
- 2019 NAE World Cup Qualifiers — Week 4 (Duo: Cloak) — 6th — May 2019
- Fortnite Champion Series Chapter 2: Season 2 Heat 1 — NA East — 1st — April 2020
2019 — StreamyAwards 9 Social Video Nomination0064
Tfue’s lawyer called FaZe Clan’s counterclaim a «gift»
Cybersport
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Lawyer for popular Fortnite streamer Turner, Tfue Tenney, believes that FaZe Clan «gave a gift» to his ward when they filed a counterclaim for breach of contract in New York District Court in August 2019. Cybersport.ru writes about it.
Attorney Brian Friedman said moving the hearing to another state is a clear attempt to avoid liability for violating California laws. He is sure that FaZe Clan cannot sue in New York, because the organization has nothing to do with this state. nine0005
After I heard about this lawsuit, I immediately looked at the calendar to make sure it wasn’t Christmas.
I just thought someone very generous gave a big gift to my client. This is how I view the counterclaim that FaZe Clan filed in New York. The reality is that the organization is simply trying to delay the case to avoid liability for violating California’s talent agency law. She is trying to move the court to New York, although she has nothing to do with this city
Friedman thinks it will be easy for him to prove that the FaZe Clan organization was always based in California and Tfue’s contract was also signed in Los Angeles, so it should be considered in local court as amended by state law.
The words of the lawyer were confirmed by the former FaZe Clan director for brand partnerships Melissa Bowden. She claims that all divisions of the organization are based in California and FaZe Clan has never had an office not only in New York, but even outside of California. It was in Los Angeles that the club’s headquarters were located, the home for players and streamers, the offices of the leaders and the apartments of the employees.
nine0005
When Tfue signed with FaZe Clan, he did it at the club’s headquarters in Los Angeles, which is captured on social networks and in numerous vlogs. According to the streamer, all communication with the FaZe management took place only in California. It was there that he signed the «player’s contract», which stated that the club would look for him a job. According to California state law, only special talent agencies with an official license, which FaZe Clan never had, can engage in such activities. There is no such law in New York, so it would be easier for club representatives to defend their position there. nine0005
According to Friedman, FaZe Clan was foolish to try to move the case against Tfue to another state because it would raise a lot of questions in court. The club previously filed documents with the California Labor Commission in another lawsuit in which it itself indicated that the organization was based in Los Angeles, California.
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Asem Omurzakova
FortniteEsport
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