One of the oldest and most storied orgs in Faze clan has gone through a major shakeup. Announcing on X (formerly twitter) and on there Youtube page. What does this mean for not only the organization, but what are the impacts on the esports world as a whole?

Faze is one of if not the closest to a household name. Growing dominate in not only the early counterstrike scene, but on youtube in the trick shot community. During these years faze exploded in popularity.

In any first-person shooter or competitive game you would expect to see the top content creators and players represented by Faze.

In recent years Faze aimed to breakout of there neiche and attempted to take there stock public. Initially the stock had massive hype, and it was highly appraised before it went public. However this was the beginning of a series of unfortunate events for the Faze organization.

Upon release the stock started lower than initially imagined. From there it was a free fall to the bottom of the SMP 500. Before 6 months the stock was worth about half of what was initially thought. This alone would have spelled the financial wreck for any prospective company, but the problems kept coming for Faze.

A few months later the stock was listed for $0.92, the lowest it had ever gone. Once a stock reaches below a zero its at danger to be de-listed, and removed from trading. This was the mark that Faze was officially worthless. Many in the community were worried, and wondering what had happened?

Many cited the poor financial decisions. From handing out ridiculous streamer and player contracts, to signing big name celebrities like Snoop Dog and Bronnie James. Many of these contracts were for thousands of dollars, and many like Bronnie and Snoop only streamed a handful of times. This alongside with the cost of running various successful esports teams and content houses put copious amounts of financial stress on the organization.

This Brings us to the current time, where the Faze organization has cut half of there rosters and slimmed down. Faze has re-branded this as a “reboot” and the leader of Faze banks has spoken extensively on the topic and cut streamers and professional players.

The list of cut players are

  • Blaze
  • Booya
  • Cbass
  • Cizzorz
  • Faxuty
  • Flea
  • H1ghSky1
  • Kale1
  • Nate_Hill
  • Nio
  • Proze
  • Santana
  • Sway
  • Testy

Many these players are highly rated professionals and popular streamers. Many were left in shock, with little to no warning. This has caused criticism through the community and many are questioning the credibility of Faze as a major org.

This is not the first time Faze has had to make layoffs. In 2023 the company had another round of layoffs. This downsizing is consistently happening at Faze, yet employees still aren’t getting proper notification about there termination.

There are now only 14 members left on Faze clan, a far cry from what they use to be. Members like Faze Rug, Banks, Adept and Jev are still listed as active members.

On the side of Faze Esports, there are also major shakeups. As mentioned in the beginning of the article Faze Esports is one of the most successful orgs in many of the S-tier esports. Counter strike, Call of duty, Rainbow Six Siege and others.

In total Faze Clan will now only field 12 teams acrost all of there rosters. The titles are as followed

  • Apex Legends
  • Call of Duty
  • Counter-Strike
  • ESL R1
  • Fortnite
  • PUBG
  • PUBG Mobile
  • Rainbow Six Siege
  • Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
  • TEKKEN

This is a wide list, and it should not be discounted the variety of game titles and genre of games is fantastic. There are some games however that are off the list. These include Valorant Rocket League. Notable exceptions for the teams Rocket League as they had some impressive finihshes, along with some fantastic players.

So what does this mean for esports? Well Faze is just part of the the Esports freeze, something that we spoke about in our previous article. Its the shrinking bubble that is the esports scene. Once bloated by venture capital and overvaluing teams have exploded in size.

Faze represented the bloat in esports better than anyone else. From the many celebrities that are involved with Faze, to the talk shows, and stock evaluations Faze was once all over the esports world.

While its no surprise that Faze is shrinking, I’m not one to say that its a bad thing however. Bloat in any company is a detriment, but especially in one that spends as much as Faze. In order to cut down Faze had to slim down and re-focus.

Overall its disappointing how the Faze organizations continues to disappoint when doing layoffs. The lack of communication is comical for someone who tweets and streams as much as Faze Banks. However I do believe that in the long run this will benefit them as a whole.

Faze has several fantastic esports rosters, and it would be a disappointment if they had to release any of them. By slimming down the content creator side they were able to refocus the whole company. The decisions for who was released on the creator side was not made lightly.

The creators they have kept are the most popular and well respected in there category, and they have also been represented by the Faze clan for several years. While i personally don’t follow many of the creators in Faze Clan i am aware of almost all of the 14 creators who are staying on with the organization.

I am looking forward to the new “Reboot” of Faze Clan, and to see what opportunities they bring. While i cannot say how successful they will continue to be on the content creator side. I feel this new re-focusing of the Esports origination will have benefits for the esports community as a whole.