Over the Christmas holiday week FaZe Media lost a majority of its top creators, essentially marking the end of the organization’s run with a new line-up of stars following the brand’s acquisition by FaZe Clan Co-Founder Ricky “Banks” Bengtson and Draft Kings Co-Founder and principal investor Matt Kalish in late March.
According to multiple social media posts, FaZe’s creators Adapt, JasonTheWeen, Stable Ronaldo, Lacy, Rage, Silky, and others left the company last week right before Christmas following months of negotiations with Kalish and his new creator agency HardScope.
According to a report from Bloomberg, Kalish gave FaZe creators the option of joining the newly launched creator agency or going independent. A majority of those creators opted to step away from the organization last week. Kalish told Bloomberg that the current FaZe Media business model was “unsustainable,” hence the need to sign creators to contracts under HardScope. Some reports claim that Hardscope wanted creators to pay 20% of their overall revenue to the firm for the privilege of using the FaZe brand, but The Esports Advocate could not independently confirm those reports.
Ricky “Banks” Bengtson, who stepped down from his role as CEO of FaZe Clan in July following allegations of engaging in “crypto scams,” described his former clanmates as ungrateful, as (he claims) they received free accommodations at the FaZe mansion, among other perks, as part of being with the organization, but shared no revenue with the organization.
FaZe Esports Unaffected
Oddly enough, FaZe Clan’s official X account noted on Monday that it will change its focus to esports going forward:
It’s heartbreaking to see this era of FaZe come to a close. It’s beyond tragic the way it all ended, it’s been an emotional few days.
We wish the boys the best not only as creators, but as people too. FaZe has always felt like a family, so we will always unconditionally root for… pic.twitter.com/mM0hybm89E
— FaZe Clan (@FaZeClan) December 28, 2025
The statement is odd because FaZe Clan/FaZe Media actually have nothing to do with FaZe Esports. When GameSquare (who acquired FaZe Clan in 2022 for roughly $17 million USD) completed its deal to sell the brand to Kalish and other investors in March, the company explicitly stated that it owned 100% of all FaZe Esports properties including teams, players, and related staff. In fact it divested another division, Complexity Gaming, to former owner Jason Lake so it would not have a conflict of interest when competing in officially sanctioned Counter-Strike 2 competitions.
From TEA’s March 31 report:
“Effective April 1 [2025], FaZe Media will no longer be consolidated in GameSquare’s financial statements. GameSquare will continue to maintain 100% ownership of FaZe Clan Esports.”
FaZe Media was established in May 2024 as a dedicated “operating subsidiary to consolidate the remaining FaZe creator talent and non-esports assets into “a creator-led IP and internet media company.” Last year, GameSquare secured an $11 million investment from Kalish—president and co-founder of DraftKings North America and FaZe Media Board Member—for a 49% stake in FaZe Media, sold a 25.5% interest for $9.5 million to an entity controlled by FaZe Banks, and entered into a $10 million convertible note transaction with Gigamoon Media, an investment entity controlled by Kalish. Those actions at the time reflected “GameSquare’s commitment to returning creative control to FaZe’s founders and optimizing the brand’s operational focus.“
While this is clearly a major setback for the brand, it is clear that the FaZe brand has the potential to live on with a whole new set of creators behind it, better brand deals, and creators that are willing to put back into the company for using the brand to promote themselves.