Ninja And Cloakzy Shed New Light On Tfue's Retirement

Turner "Tfue" Tenney was once on top of the streaming game, but a series of bad contracts and famous feuds eventually took its toll on the pro gamer. Earlier this year, Tfue posted an emotional video in which he told fans he was done with streaming for the immediate future. At the time, he didn't leave a ton of room for debate, telling fans, "I've been doing this since I was eight years old, content creating. I just need to go live my life." A recent stream between fellow Twitch stars Ninja and Cloakzy may have gone a long way toward explaining why Tfue needed to take a break.

While streaming a few rounds of "Fortnite OG," the topic of Tfue naturally came up. Tfue was a big name in the "Fortnite" scene during its early days, and the rollout of the game's throwback season hasn't quite felt the same without him. It seems both streamers miss the dynamic Tfue brought to the game, and the conversation quickly drifted over to how much Tfue's old contract may have played a part in his feelings of burnout. 

"[Tfue] had a contract where he had to stream 200 hours a month. He's enjoying life right now," said Cloakzy. Ninja agreed, noting that he thinks Tfue's situation was more stressful than the public ever knew. Ninja added, "I thought it was like 250 to 300 hours ... Tfue was a slave to his contract, unfortunately." If this is an accurate figure, it goes a long way towards explaining to fans why Tfue got out of the streaming biz.

Ninja and Cloakzy say Tfue's Twitch contract required 250-300 hours a month live pic.twitter.com/7I1ttCdbIz

— Dexerto (@Dexerto) November 16, 2023

Though fans are curious to hear from the man himself, Tfue has yet to weigh in on the accuracy of Ninja and Cloakzy's claims. The streamer has been absent from social media for months now, leaving fans in the dark about his next moves. When he posted his farewell video, he did say, "Who knows if I'll be back ... I just need time to get away. I feel like earlier in my gaming career I used gaming to escape from reality, and I feel like now I use reality to escape from f***ing work, you know?" While those comments don't leave much wiggle room for a return in the current state of the streaming industry, Tfue fans needn't despair. 

Recent rumors point to the streamer's return on a different platform, one which may offer Tfue a much better deal. During an interview earlier this week with Kick CEO Eddie Craven, Jake Lucky asked about the platform's stance on Tfue. Though Craven stopped just short of saying that Kick has signed the superstar streamer, he did say that he believes Kick's business model allows for much more schedule flexibility, which could be a huge boon to streamers who are burned out by the daily grind on other platforms. If Tfue does return, fans may be happy to see him in a much less strenuous contract.

We asked the Kick CEO about signing Tfue

"Now is an amazing time to see him back live, hopefully on Kick" 👀 pic.twitter.com/oPsYkuyp57

— Jake Lucky (@JakeSucky) November 13, 2023