FaZe Clan (formerly FaZe Sniping) is a professional esports and entertainment organization headquartered in Los Angeles, California, USA. Founded on May 30, 2010, the organization has players from around the world, across multiple games, including Call of Duty, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege, Halo Infinite, Valorant, Fortnite Battle Royale, Rocket League, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. In 2020, the organization expanded into the Asian market, acquiring a Thai PUBG Mobile and FIFA Online roster.
FaZe Sniping made its debut on YouTube on May 30, 2010. Originally, the group were a Call of Duty clan founded by three players, Eric "CLipZ" Rivera, Jeff "House Cat" Emann (now known as "Timid") and Ben "Resistance" Christensen. The trio garnered a reputation for innovating trickshotting in the game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Their YouTube content took off when Ted "Fakie" joined the clan. It was then when FaZe unveiled the most popular series on their channel, ILLCAMS. FaZe Clan's focus on trickshotting and a personality/social-media approach led to FaZe Clan becoming one of the first popular YouTube video game channels, compared to other Call of Duty channels which were focused on winning tournaments. In 2012, the channel had one million subscribers, and the clan began to branch out into esports competitions. Teams under the FaZe name began competing in competitions such as the Call of Duty Championship and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Championships, who were separate from the clan's YouTube content creators, splitting members of FaZe Clan into two mostly autonomous camps. Originally, FaZe Clan did not have a corporate structure, however the original CEO was Brazilian Thomas "Temperrr" Oliveira, who had been a member of FaZe since he was 16 years old. Oliveira and COO Richard “Banks” Bengston created the first FaZe shared home in 2014 in Plainview, New York, where they could incorporate lifestyle content with their gaming content.
In 2015, former social media platform Hubrick, run by Norwegian entrepreneur Sebastian Guerts, decided to invest in FaZe Clan. Hubrick recruited former record executive Lee Trink to serve as CEO. In January 2016, FaZe Clan acquired European esports team G2 Esports's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive international lineup, who competed as FaZe Clan in the 2016 MLG Major Championship: Columbus, The team won second place in ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018, losing to US-based Cloud9. In 2017, Bengston moved to Los Angeles, starting a new shared home with YouTubers called the Clout House. FaZe Clan were the runners up in ESL Pro League Season 6 in 2017, and second runners up of ESL Pro League Season 7 and ESL One Cologne 2018. FaZe Clan were the champions of ELeague CS:GO Premier in 2017, winning $500,000 of prize money.

Return to FaZe Banks Autograph Profile