Returning literally out of nowhere, Tfue announced on November 19 (via X) that he was returning to live streaming. The former Twitch megastar had announced his retirement from the industry in June 2023 before going dark on social media, claiming he wanted to “go live my life” in a retirement video on YouTube he posted a few months later.
However, two days back, he made a surprise return on X to disclose to his fans that he was coming back. It was his first post on the platform in around five months, and in the clip, the Fortnite legend went back to using his initial setup and could be seen wearing a Kick hat to reveal where he would be broadcasting from once back.
Tfue's popularity began soaring alongside that of Fortnite in 2017, with the game's release that year proving to be a game changer not only for Epic Games but also for then-small content creators like Tfue and Ninja. Both adopted the building shooter wholeheartedly, with most of their broadcasts focusing on it, and they got so good that at various points, esports organizations jumped in to try and sign them to deals.
The American was lucky enough to play professionally for a few years, even signing with FaZe Clan for a short time. All this while the game and their popularity online skyrocketed in fame globally, making them some of the earliest superstars in the mash-up of video gaming and streaming, and definitely for Twitch.
His fame reached such a peak that he became one of the few influencers on the purple platform to break the 10M followers mark. Tfue remains one of only nine online personalities to do so, with one of them also being Ninja, who is the overall leader on this table with 18.8M followers, at least 19% more than the next-best entry.
Alongside xQc, pokimane, and shroud, they are the only five English-speaking broadcasters on this leaderboard, with the rest being Spanish-speaking streamers. This just shows how important Tfue has been to the Twitch cause, and his sudden decision to retire and live his life has played a part — however small — in the company's recent troubles with its on-screen employees, many of whom have left for pastures anew (including Kick).
Capitalizing on the hype around his comeback, Tfue even had his first stream on the green platform on November 20. It wasn't much by way of him interacting with his adoring fans, but he did end up getting the internet world talking by setting up a stand that read 'free money' and distributed cash to anyone willing to approach him.
While it did not set the world alight in terms of watch time (90K Hours Watched), it did do 31K Peak Viewers over an airtime of three hours and 30 minutes, making it one of the ten most popular channels on the streaming service over the past week.
It should not be lost on anyone that of the five most followed channels on Twitch who are English-speaking, three have now moved to Kick — either fully or part-time. Shroud and pokimane remain the last holdouts, and while they seem happy for the time being, the Amazon-owned site will do well to ensure its policies, which it promised would make earning easier and give more freedom to its creators in terms of streaming on multiple platforms, are updated in the right manner, as it had promised a few weeks back.
While Ninja was the first to bite the bullet, agreeing on a lucrative deal with the ever-improving platform in early June, xqc followed later that month, deciding to sign another eye-watering contract worth $100M that allowed him to continue broadcasting on Twitch as well. Both have found success here as well and while the former is less frequent in his activity, the French-Canadian continues to be one of the most watched and popular names out there, irrespective of where he comes online.
Currently, xqc is the second-most followed streamer on Kick at 581K people, more than 225K behind the leader. More importantly, Tfue has already jumped to the 24th spot with 88K followers, showing just how much in demand his content is and how long fans have been waiting for his return to streaming. Ninja just misses out on the top 50, but that is also because he is not as active as most of the other names above him.
Coming back to Tfue's return, many of his colleagues were quick to show happiness about his announcement to broadcast again. Most called it a ‘W,’ with other Fortnite streamers like TimTheTatman, Symfuhny, and Clix congratulating him for the move. Another star pupil of the game, SypherPK, said:
“Huge W. Gotta see you on the OG map before it’s gone.”
Whether the 25-year-old manages to retain the attention of the masses post the initial hysteria of his comeback remains to be seen. Still, there is no doubt that he will boost the industry and community. With Fortnite already riding a huge wave, especially on Twitch, thanks to the OG update, the resuscitation of one of its prodigal sons only spells good news for a game seeing a renewed lease of life heading into the new year.
