While the pandemic has had quite the negative impact on individuals, businesses, and even entire industries, it has resulted in some remarkable stories of growth in the livestreaming space. One such story is that of a 23-year-old, lifelong FaZe Clan fan, who in less than a year went from pulling ten-hour shifts most days to support his family to joining the organisation he idolised. His name? ‘Faxuty’.
In September 2020, the latest FaZe5 competition opened its doors to the gaming world. The idea is to find the next ‘FaZe Somebody’, and give a handful of deserving creators the chance to make a name for themselves. Among the hordes that entered was Faxuty – a streamer specialising in Fortnite content who only began seriously streaming around six months prior. The pandemic had halved his previously long and arduous work hours, giving him the time and opportunity to finally try his hand at something he’d always dreamed of doing.
“I’ve always wanted to be an entertainer,” Faxuty tells The Loadout. “When I hit that certain age where I had to work and give [that dream] up, it was probably one of the worst times in my life. But I knew that I had to grow up to do what needed to be done, you know, whether it was paying the bills, taking care of my family – I just had to step up and be the bigger man.
“That free time that I now had [after my work hours were halved] I put into streaming. I told myself: ‘I’m going to do this for fun, I’m going to enjoy it and see what happens’.”
What happened was the formation of a small but devoted community in a relatively short space of time. This landed Faxuty with a salary-paying spot on XTRA Gaming as a content creator. Despite the income this brought in – which was helping support his financially unstable family – he parted ways with the org when FaZe5 was announced.
“I sacrificed a lot,” Faxuty explains. “I said: ‘I’m leaving this organisation, I’m leaving this team, I don’t care about what I’m getting from them.’ If I have to leave at a loss, just to grind through Faze5, that’s fine. That’s when the whole game flipped for me.”
With so much self-confidence and a laser focus on being part of the organisation he followed for a decade, Faxuty immediately stood out from the majority of the other contestants.
Out of the eventual six winners of the FaZe5 competition, Faxuty was certainly the least-known. Other winners included Warzone ace Nick ‘Nio’ Katamyschew and Argentinian Fornite prodigy Thiago ‘K1ng’ Lapp, who all boasted large followings prior to joining FaZe. The impact of winning FaZe5 on Faxuty, both statistically and emotionally, was arguably the most profound.
This was all several months ago now. Faxuty has firmly settled into life at FaZe, and has established himself as a popular personality in the Fortnite community. However, with so many existing creators and top pro players commanding so much of the Fortnite audience on Twitch, making it to the top won’t be easy. Despite this, it’s a challenge he is willing to take on.
“I think I’ll be one of the biggest streamers regardless [of how tough it is], I promise you that,” Faxuty says, confidently. “It was once Ninja streaming Fortnite to like 60-80,000. It was once him as the main face of Fortnite. That didn’t stop other creators coming in and now they’re the biggest, you know what I’m saying? The bigger creators set an example, and honestly, that motivates me. I think I can be the main person, if I just put in the work and make the right moves.”
my grind, passion, & dedication to this shit has been on a whole different level lately. hit 2.6k viewers with no host on stream today. we coming different 2021 and never stopping!! love yall, thank you for everything ♥️
— FaZe Faxuty (@faxuty) April 5, 2021
In his ambitious plan to reach the top, Faxuty doesn’t rule out gravitating away from Fortnite, should a new game drop that he “truly enjoys”. It’s a strategy that worked out well for someone who he says was a big inspiration to him, and who is also now one of the biggest names attached to the FaZe brand: Nick ‘NICKMERCS’ Kolcheff.
Now surrounded by some of the biggest names in streaming and content creation, backed by one of the most well-known brands in gaming, and an avid preacher of the importance of hard work, Faxuty’s confidence is not misplaced.
But despite his lofty ambitions, the 23-year-old doesn’t believe in goals. In his eyes, they’re too “limiting”, and well, after looking at what he’s achieved in his first 15 months as a streamer, it’s hard to argue with that logic.
