The Bigger They Are

Traditional esports teams, like OpTic, have taken a page out of FaZe’s playbook. They too are attempting to make more content and more personalities, not just win games. 100 Thieves, another company seeking to merge gaming and lifestyle, raised $35 million this summer.

FaZe Clan’s relative scale, however, is staggering. FaZe Clan has more than 7.5 million followers on Instagram alone; 100 Thieves has 571,000. “As an organization they’ve got this incredible network effect,” said Sundance DiGiovanni, a co-founder of Major League Gaming. “When they bring someone in, that person sees an explosion on their social channels.”

Like any average college-aged kid, FaZe Clan members like to have a good time. Some hit the clubs on the weekends or attend parties hosted by young Hollywood talent and fellow YouTube stars. Events at the FaZe Clan house itself have become infamous. Last year, the crew hosted a 900-person party with 700 young women. “Marshmello” — he’s a big D.J. — “said it was the best party he’s ever been to,” Temperrr said. In October, Banks and some friends caused an estimated $30,000 worth of damage to a hotel room at the Encore at Wynn Las Vegas after a wild night.

The less fun side is that burnout is a major concern for online creators. Nearly all top FaZe Clan members have experienced it. “It’s really hard to stay consistent with this level of work,” said FaZe Adapt. “There was a couple moments when it got hard. If I wasn’t posting every day, I was filming all day, editing all night.”

In late October, FaZe Rain, one of the founding owner-members, posted a series of alarming messages on Twitter, and slammed fellow members of FaZe Clan for not being there for him. FaZe Rain had previously discussed struggling with depression, and revealed that he had suffered a “mental breakdown” that landed him in a psychiatric ward. “I’ve been doing this since I was 11 years old, man,” he said at the time, meaning making content for YouTube. Currently his social media output veers between “I feel like I lost myself” and, this week, “All you need is confidence then you can do anything.”