Twitch streamer Turner "Tfue" Tenney joins an elite club of which previously only fellow streamer and rival Ninja was a member — he has become the second streamer in Twitch history to amass over 10 million followers. He surpassed the milestone during a livestream of Minecraft, promptly chugged two beers to celebrate, and went straight back to his game.
Tenney's road to Twitch fame largely followed that of his contemporary and rival Tyler "Ninja" Blevins, in that both found initial success as Fortnite streamers before branching out into other games, growing their respective fanbases despite a few conflicts with Twitch and a number of high-profile controversies. Tenney's history in particular, especially his high-profile lawsuit with FaZe Clan, has arguably helped reshape the esports scene and how competitive streamers and gamers are perceived, categorized, and subsequently protected by labor laws. But of his contemporaries, Tenney was one of the few who didn't make the switch over to Mixer, Microsoft's ill-fated rival to Twitch, and despite a temporary ban or two, continued to grow his fanbase on his home platform.
Since quitting Fortnite in 2020, Tenney moved on to other games and garnered a bit of a reputation for not sticking with one game for particularly long. But that likely contributed to Tenney's ongoing appeal, as his followership continued to grow unabated. Tenney was livestreaming Minecraft when his follower count ticked over the 10 million mark, during which time he addressed his viewers on stream: “Alright chat, thanks for 10 million followers,” followed by a couple of beers, and dove right back into his game. The rather humble response was compounded by a tweet he later shared, but he hasn't kicked up too much of a fuss about the milestone since then.
This isn't to suggest that Tenney is on his way to overtaking Blevins as the most popular streamer on Twitch — Blevins' following is about 7.6 million members stronger than Tenney's. And secondary rival Michael "shroud" Grzesiek is closing in on Tenney to become a likely third member of the 10 million + club. This event is more useful as an indicator that Twitch is still the undisputed king of game streaming, and that popular personalities are going to continue to garner massive followings, particularly as the pandemic has forced more and more people to turn to the service as a form of entertainment.
Regardless of how it happened, Tenney's viewership is well-earned, and could have some broader implications. While Tenney isn't the most controversial streamer on Twitch, he has had his fair share of screw-ups, and hopefully will remember that his influence is much more far-reaching now than it was the first time he casually dropped a racial slur on his Twitch stream. The line about power and responsibility here is particularly apt.