UK pro gamer Benjy ‘Benjyfishy’ Fish is quitting competitive Fortnite in favour of team shooter Valorant.
The 18-year-old Brit made his break in Fortnite back in 2018 when he was 14, before moving to NRG and making a big name for himself, racking up almost two million followers on Twitter alone.
He’s been playing Valorant a lot recently, and today has made it official – he’s leaving Fortnite behind for Valorant’s team shooter.
What Benjyfishy said about switching to Valorant
“Recently I fell out of love with Fortnite, I used to be able to play it for eight to ten hours a day, but even last season I was only playing during the tournaments,” Benjy said.
“The reason I wanted to be a pro gamer was to have a job I enjoyed, so for me right now it seems pointless carrying on with something I don’t enjoy.
“I’ve been playing a ton of Valorant recently, on and off stream, it’s genuinely the most fun I’ve ever had gaming probably since the Fortnite World Cup or playing trios together with Mitr0 and [fellow UK pro player and the most-talked about esports player on Twitter] Mongraal.
“I’m so grateful these past four years I’ve been playing Fortnite, it’s made my dream of being a pro gamer a reality. I’ll be playing a ton of Valorant, so if you’re into that, make sure you come and drop by my stream and YouTube.”
Benjyfishy said he will be remaining with his esports organisation, NRG, and will be making Valorant content for them moving forward.
He also thanked several people for his time in esports so far, including his mother, Anne ‘mamabenjyfishy’ Fish, who joined Galaxy Racer last year to become the first pro gamer mum to join an esports team organisation.
Benjyfishy also thanked his duo partner MrSavage, who he described as “the best player I have ever played with and a friend for life”.
Prior to Fortnite, Benjyfishy was close to taking up League of Legends or CSGO professionally, he played them a lot when growing up, but ultimately decided to stick with Fortnite after Epic’s battle royale game launched.
He reached Platinum 1 in League of Legends at just 12 years old and in CSGO he reached the Supreme rank. He also visited the CLG offices and saw the LCS trophy there as part of a visit to the States.
Benjy is from a small island community in Surrey where he was home-schooled and his esports interest was recognised and encouraged by his mother.
Benjyfishy is also a part of management agency Loaded, who he signed to around a year and a half ago.
The Fortnite World Cup has been on hiatus the past few years during the pandemic, while the FNCS has continued (Guild player Hen won a FNCS EU final back in March). Valorant, on the other hand, seems to be going from strength to strength after the game launched two years ago.
There’s the Valorant Champions Tour (VCT), Game Changers for women and marginalised genders, the Valorant Regional Leagues (including UK and Nordics’ Polaris), franchise-like leagues on the way, the lower-tier Valorant Beacon grassroots series and more.
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Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.