- FaZe Clan and Sugar23 have partnered to create FaZe Studios
- With a reach of over 230M people, FaZe Clan says that it is looking to be a cultural leader in the esports gaming entertainment and lifestyle space.
- The studios will be based in Los Angeles where different styles of content including short films and episodic content will be shot.
FaZe Clan has partnered with Sugar23, Academy Award-winning manager-producer Michael Sugar’s emerging management and creative platform, to launch FaZe Studios. The partnership will see the two work together to produce new film and television projects that will see original content.
Sugar23 and FaZe Clan are looking to combine their expertise in creating original, premium entertainment to connect with youth culture in the digital space. FaZe Studios will introduce “culturally impactful” movies and television shows aimed at today’s youth.
“We see ourselves speaking not only to this audience but for this audience,” CEO of FaZe Clan Lee Trink told The Esports Observer. “One of the comparisons that I make is that of MTV in its heyday. MTV really drove culture, drove youth culture and MTV very much spoke for Generation X and to Generation X. They not only were their voice, but they also led Generation X into what that community should explore and what might they be interested in.”
According to Trink, FaZe Clan’s combined social following exceeds 230M people. Not counting the individual content creator numbers on platforms, FaZe Clan has 8.6M Instagram followers, 7.67M Youtube subscribers, 4.37M Twitter followers, and 533K Facebook likes. On Youtube alone, five videos produced by FaZe Clan have over 8.6M views with 80 videos having 2M views or more.
When looking at those numbers Trink said, “If all of a sudden we can produce film and market that film and bring it straight to an audience– there’s never been more opportunities to do that. Considering our combined social following numbers it’s actually kind of a big threat to the traditional infrastructure entertainment.”
Not being beholden to content platforms was one of the big reasons FaZe Clan entered into this partnership with Sugar23. Both companies, known for their disruptive style of content, now have their own platform where they can house all of their original content.
“We should be making content wherever content is consumed and whatever the type of content is consumed,” Trink said. “As long as we can represent that authentically and deliver content to our audience that we think that they will enjoy, well that’s it, we should be doing it.”
However, with all these moves and changes there is something that Trink wants fans of FaZe Clan to know.
“Everything we do is through the lens of gaming–everything. This is not about a departure,” Trink said. “I think people still don’t understand what gaming, gaming lifestyle, gaming culture, and the gaming community are. We aim to change that. I would say we would never be here today, but for gaming and esports and we will never lose sight of who we are.”
Under the terms of the deal, which was initiated by FaZe Clan’s VP of Creative Development Xavier Ramos and Sugar23’s Head, Interactive & Gaming Brad Foxhoven, FaZe Studios will operate in Los Angeles with Sugar23 running development operations. Foxhoven will be leading the initiative for Sugar23.
The Los Angeles based esports and gaming lifestyle entertainment company was founded in 2010 creating YouTube content surrounding its three-person Call of Duty team. Eventually, the company expanded its footprint in the esports and gaming space by fielding more teams and expanding its roster of content creators that work on various platforms.
