Thanks to 15 year old Jaden Ashman's dedication, he
became the highest earning gamer in UK history after finishing
second place in the Fortnite World Cup. His efforts earned
him a Guinness World Record and almost 1 million pounds.
I'm really, like, focused on, like, my gaming. I
hopefully can make a decent living out of it.
Being in the public spotlight at such a young age
for anyone can be extremely challenging. You have to know
how to handle the fame and you have to be able to keep a level
head to not only make sure the publicity isn't negatively
affecting you...
I play for like eight hours a day sometimes.
but also to make sure that you're still able to
compete at the highest level.
For someone like Wolfiez, he's already proven
that he has that it factor. From the Fortnite World Cup to all
the recent online competitions. It's only a matter of time
before these LANs kick back up and he's going to be there
competing once again. He's been qualifying for evergrande finals
ever since. It doesn't look like he's going to stop anytime soon.
He's quite unique in his character. One thing I love
about Jaden - which I always tell him - is I think he's true
to himself.
The best thing about it is that I just have enough money
to order UberEats when I want. I don't know if I should say that.
[Music]
My name is Jayden "Wolfiez" Ashman I was born in
December, 2003. I got the gamer tag Wolfiez from a game I used
to play.
My name is Lisa Dallman and I'm Jayden Ashman, also
known as "Wolfiez" Mom. This is Jaden's younger brother. This is
little Wolfiez. We call him - his name's little Wolfiez,
aren't ya? He plays Fortnite as well.
I'm playing Minecraft right now!
Yeah, his first console was an Xbox. So he had that for many
years. You know, he was playing it from the age of six. But I
think a big turning point for Jaden was my younger brother. He
had a very strong interest in gaming.
That's why I'm as, like, competitive as I am now.
Because I always wanted to be, like, better than him. Even
though he was 10 years older than me it was, like, really
hard. I first got into a game that was, like, an indie game.
It was like three pound on some indie shop. And also this game
called CastleMiner Z. After that, when I grew a bit older, I
gravitated towards, like, shooters and stuff. Finally
Fortnite came along and it really got me hooked.
[Game audio]
Let's go bro!
Fortnite is a 100 man Battle Royale. And what made
this game extremely popular and successful - I would say with
the masses... It's one of the first games that appeal to
everyone. Not only in the form of the way players interact with
one another, but it's just multiplayer, right? The way it
all works out in these Battle Royale games is the last man
standing is the one that takes home the prize.
So the thing about Fortnite is that it was a
shooter but you could also build, so it was kind of
creative, but also, like, a shooter at the same time. It's
like all like Minecraft and the CastleMiner Z that I played. And
then, like, Call of Duty. It kind of felt like it was all
synced into one. And all of this stuff you could do in Fortnite
you couldn't really do in other games.
Fortnite is still the biggest game on the planet right
now. It's the biggest single game. According to the people
who make the game at Epic, they have 250 million people
registered as Fortnite players, so that is absolutely massive.
You can expect at any single time to be millions of people
around the world playing Fortnite.
It's not even a video game anymore. It is so much more
than a game. And I think when you see Steve Aoki and Diplo and
Deadmau5 and Travis Scott - all the concerts. You know,
Fortnite's going to be a place where kids hang out and adults
are going to hang out there too. So I see it as a place in the
future where, yeah, I'm going to play some Battle Royale games
and have fun, but maybe I'll watch a movie with my kids in
Fortnite. Maybe I'm going to catch a concert with some
buddies in Fortnite, and they've created this whole amazing
virtual ecosystem for everyone.
[Gameplay audio]
Me and my friends would just play on school days and
just... I didn't really like to play on my own, like solos. So
usually you would play with a squad, at the start of the game
where it was really fun. And I got really addicted to it, so I
just started playing more and more and, like, the hours got
longer. I also got really good at it.
In the early days it was a lot easier to limit the
amount of time that he was on it. From when he was about 14 to
when he started planning a lot later in the evening, into the
early hours of the morning, when I found it quite difficult to
control because I would be asleep in the evening and then
Jaden would stay up. And I think when you've got the schooling in
Europe telling you that your son's falling asleep in class -
it's not really the conversation you want to be having with the
school, you know?
At the start, we clashed a lot. Like, she thought
I was wasting my time not putting in as much effort as I
could at school. She used to take my Xbox away from me.
Unplugged the internet. Just all that sort of stuff.
Well, with me and Jaden, we've gone through quite
a lot of things where I would actually contact the internet
provider and then cancel it on my laptop.
She threw out one of my Xboxes. She just threw it out
with the rubbish men. So it wasn't really that good.
It's difficult because Jaden really loved his game. And
it's just - I more pushed him towards schoolwork.
So initially I was playing Fortnite on a console
with my friends. But as I got better, I realized that the pro
scene of Fortnite wasn't on console and that it was all on
PC. I was contemplating on switching, but I knew I was a
lot better on controller and it would take, like, a lot of time
to be able to get my skill back on a - on a different input.
There's this big dilemma between console and PC
players. Now console inherently is - it's a piece of hardware,
right? But it's not the best hardware available. That's where
the PC players come into place. You'll find that a lot of these
best of the best players eventually want to transition to
that overall, wholesome experience that you'll get on a
computer.
So when Christmas came, I asked my nan for a PC and I
didn't even get it, so it was a bit of a bummer. But then a few
months after that, my nan saw, like, how, like, good I was at
the game. And she really, like, it was like one of my dreams.
And instantly I started placing on PCs, so I was really happy
with myself. And then that's when I realized that I could
actually have a career gaming.
[Music]
The Fortnite World Cup was one of the biggest eSports
events of all time. It had $100 million on the line over the
course of the qualifiers and the tournament itself. And the grand
prize for both the singles and doubles was $30 million, which
is an unbelievable amount of money.
To give you guys an idea of the scale at how players
were going to be able to qualify through to the Fortnite World
Cup: it was ten grueling weeks competition. You had these huge
funnels of millions of players trying to boil you down to the
top five placement spots, weekend after weekend. And only
the best the best moved on over those ten weeks of competition.
It had three different events happening simultaneously. You
had the creative event, the solos and then the duos. The
duos competition was the one that people were most excited
for. It's the team based game modes that really draw the
attention of the community.
Going into duos, I had to find a teammate but nobody
really knew who I was.
My name is Dave Jong - also known as "Rojo" in the
Fortnite competitive community - and I'm a professional Fortnite
player.
Rojo was a veteran player. He was known in the
community as someone who was part of the star studded early
ecosystem. The EU Fortnite competition scene.
I'm based in the Netherlands.
In gaming, living in the same place isn't really an
issue. It doesn't really matter where you're from, as long as
you have a mutual language that you can speak clearly. You can
really get along with anyone.
At the time, I didn't have a duo partner and I was
like, "I need a new duo partner." I just went through
the list. Jaden was one of the players who did really well in
"share the love" as a solo and then contacted him and asked him
if he wanted to try out some time.
Looking back, like, he sent DMs to other people, like,
saying that, "Oh, he's kind of - he's controller, maybe he might
be terrible." But I showed it wrong. So...
The first thing he asked me - he was asking me about my
achievements when I made around 30 grand at the time already.
Every duo week we qualled for the finals. And just
every week, we slowly started to get better and better, like,
actually, gradually, so... We faced that top 1000 week two.
Top 750 week three or week four, like, top 500. And then we just
slowly inched our way up until we just came first. We qualled,
it was like 8pm at night and I just started screaming. And
then...
I knew Jaden was playing in a competition, but I
didn't know the seriousness of it. And I didn't really take too
much notice because I didn't even know what it was.
Their reaction was, like, not what I expected. Like,
I just - I went in there and I was like, "I just won 50 grand
and I just qualled for the World Cup!" And they just went in
there and they're just like, "What're you talking about? I'm
just watching TV..."
[Music]
Well they didn't really believe me until, like, the guys
from Epic Games emailed them and sent them plane tickets and
stuff and, like, hotel receipts and all that.
The difficulty with it was logistically, um, I'm a
single parent and I've got three children and I was working full
time. I've got childcare to pay and bills to pay. But we had
problems because we had to apply for an ESTA and Jaden ticked the
wrong box on the actual application and said that he was
going there to work. Because Jaden assumed because he's going
there to play in a game and he's getting paid. He ticked the box,
which meant that it was rejected.
And we ended up having to go to one of the embassies in
London and apply for, like, an emergency visa.
Which meant I had to take time off of work to try and
resolve it.
We had to show my birth certificate. And we left it on
the side, and my dog gone up and just ate it...
It was many times when we did feel like giving up. But
it all worked out in the end. We got an appointment, Jaden got
his visa, we picked it up and we - we managed to get to New York.
So going into the World Cup, it was just me and my mom.
My sister and brother stayed back home with my nan.
We had a lot of fun and it was our first time in New
York, so we really did thoroughly enjoy it.
It was really nice going into New York because all
the pro players got to stay in the same hotel. I just knew
everybody there, but I didn't know them, you know? And, like,
just really cool seeing everyone.
When we actually got to the stadium - I think it was the
day before - to sort of get a feel for it. That's when we
appreciated just how big this event was and how much work had
gone into organizing it.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, Jonesies,
Bonesies and everyone in between. Welcome back to the
road to the Fortnite World Cup. We're on one of the last stops.
We saw creative and the pro-am get off the track yesterday. And
Balla, we're here today for the duos competition.
So first of all, we had like a warm up. So, just a test
if all the equipment's working. I placed really, really well in
the game. So I had like eight kills and I came third place in
the game. Like, I absolutely just wiped the floor of everyone
in the first warm-up game. We came back, we had food and I was
just buzzing, ready to get into the first game.
On show day, the energy was contagious. You had
thousands of people flooding in, taking their seats and ready for
the big competition. Before the duos, we had the creative event.
So that was like the small scale entry level. You really felt the
atmosphere change when the real competition started to come
through. And that was kicking things off, setting the stage
with the duos competition.
We've got one final group of duos to let on the
floor. It's going to be Serpennt and Hype, Wolfiez and Rojo,
Skite and Vato, Vorwenn and Tuckz, Klusia and Th0masHD, and
then finally, Puzz and Ming.
We knew that it was going to be six intense games
and lives were going to be changed.
Getting those couple materials can be key. Wolfiez
heard the snipe shot there. It looks like nobody got connected
with it.
I just know that our strategy was based around, at
the time you had "Ballers." It was basically hamster balls with
an item on it that could grapple onto buildings. So you could
move really fast.
As we look to crown our champions. Eight players
remaining. Seven different squads...
We abused those items to rotate fast. People couldn't
shoot you when you were in the Ballers, so we didn't lose any
HP, stuff like that. That was basically our main strategy to
use those as long as we can. Basically created for us a
really consistent play style where we would always end up
amongst the last players.
We have four players remaining with Arkhram sitting
at the highest [inaudible]. A quick 180!
We got to endgame. We saw it on the board in our game
that we'd came second but we didn't want to, like, believe
it. So the only time we actually believed that we came second is
that - when it came up on, like, the big screen.
After the competition was over and the winners were
announced and all the placements were being divvied out, it was
clear that the EU scene was on top.
Again, we're tallying every little bit so we know
exactly who won it. Ladies and gentlemen, do you guys want to
hear who will be the first ever Fortnite world champions?
[Cheering]
I think they do!
The thing was, when Jaden actually won, um, I wasn't
with him, because we were separated. So I was in the
players lounge and I was waiting for Jaden to come up. So all
that part, I missed. So I missed, you know, his initial
reaction. It was-it wasn't until after when I'm searching
the players lounge for Jaden and all the other players are like,
"He's over there, he's over there!" And luckily one of my
friends captured the moment when me-myself and Jaden see each
other for the first time...
I can honestly say - as much as I think a lot of parents say you
don't always feel appreciated by your child. But in that moment
right there. Never in my whole life have I ever felt as
appreciated as I did on that day.
It was like a really good feeling for me because it
felt like I'd proved everything to her and all of my time
playing Fortnite and my gaming was all worth it in the end.
And, like, the financial strain that we had and all that stuff
was just all gone. Me and Rojo won 2... 2.25 million together,
split.
$1.125 million each, they won.
That's where Wolfiez and Rojo really shined out. I
mean we're talking $2.2 million or so. Stepping on that stage
and then winning and taking it all home. All of a sudden - like
a snap of the finger - fame comes overnight.
That was a whirlwind.
So that night, me and my mom got, like, a lot of calls
from back home because we was in a different time zone. So it was
the daytime of there, back home but it was night for us. And we
stayed up pretty much all night doing, like, radio calls, phone
calls, and all that stuff. The day after that we went to the
Rockefeller building to do an interview for Sky News.
We all went out to celebrate and went to this pizza place and,
like, had a massive pizza with all my friends and family.
Soon as we came back from New York, we were scheduled
to do interviews literally straight away.
Turns out though, Jaden wasn't wasting his time after
all, because he's just won nearly a million pounds playing
the online video game Fortnite at it's first ever World Cup.
So the attention of all the media was just different for
me and... I kind of handled it pretty well. I just - I knew
what I wanted to do in the end, though. I just wanted to go home
and just keep playing and doing what I'm doing. It wasn't really
that hard to figure out what I was going to do with the money.
Just save the rest of it and just buy the house out of the
other half.
It was a no-brainer. We was gonna put the money into a
property. It made sense because we're paying rent, so, you know,
we don't have to go no longer do that. So it relieved the
pressure from myself. And anything that I do and earn, it
now goes towards us. And we're not gonna stop working and
moving forward to create a legacy - not just for Jaden, but
for future generations. His children and his children's
children. So looking after changing, you know, everybody.
The direction that our family's going. So that's - that's the
plan.
I now just have a really, really nice house
that I - I really like.
So my mom had, like, definitely has a new light on gaming and
she - she also took a lot more time to understand, like, how it
works. So it's really cool.
It wasn't too bad for a - for a day's work.
After becoming a free agent, I had a lot of offers
going, like, going in because of what happened with the World
Cup. So I had a long time to - to think about and sum up the
cons and pros of why I wanted to sign. So it was really good.
I got a really, really good impression from EXCEL from
the initial stage. Because it wasn't just more about Jaden.
Having an organization just to have their name attached to
Jaden. It was more about, you know, what they can do for Jaden
off of the game.
It's extremely important to pick the right
organization. Because unfortunately in eSports and
gaming there have been a few instances of players who have
realized that their orgs do not have their best interests at
hand. And for Wolfiez to sign with EXCEL, it's extremely
valuable that he has signed on with them.
EXCEL is a leading UK based gaming and eSports
entertainment brand. I mean, the first I heard of Wolfiez was
probably similar to a lot of people. It was him performing so
well at the Fortnite World Cup. It was an event that got a lot
of traction online. It was one that we paid quite close
attention to as an Esports organization, of course. We
didn't have anyone competing in that tournament. We were looking
at Fortnite as a potential expansion opportunity, and
Wolfiez doing so well and being a British talent obviously
excited us a lot at that point.
I had a few concerns, like in regards to sleeping, his
eating, because we know - now know that Jaden, you know, he is
a professional athlete and this is something that he's going to
be doing for the foreseeable. And EXCEL were the ones that
demonstrated that they were the best fit.
EXCEL's a very young, but they're also a preeminent
eSports organization. They made a lot of noise this year with
how they competed in the LEC. And I'm really excited for what
they're building in the future. But something that I really love
about them now is really their focus that they place on player
development. They're one of the few eSports organizations that
really prioritize things like nutrition, exercise,
psychology... All these things that any kind of young eSports
player would want.
At the moment I've been dealing with repetitive strain
on my thumb, which was caused by me playing too much. At the
moment, I've just been stretching, makin sure that I'm
keeping my hand moving in good ways.
So Wolfiez' had some problems with his hand as he
kind of came on board in our organization. I think that
opened his eyes up to how fragile his career is in a way.
He is competing at the absolute highest level that he can
compete at. And in order to continue to do that for many,
many years, he needs to keep his body healthy and he needs to
keep his muscles in order. He needs to make sure he's not
getting repetitive strain injuries or anything, so he
needs to be doing the right stretches, etcetera. These are
all things that he might not really have thought about until
we provided that education for him, which we think is super
vital to help him understand what he needs to be doing on a
day-to-day basis to prolong his career.
Not playing is kind of hard because seeing everyone
else keep playing and getting better is just really annoying
because I just want to be in a position where I can just play
and be back to how I was. But obviously it's not gonna happen
unless I take my break, so it's more of just an investment and
just getting better as quick as I can so I can be back on top
again.
When it comes to Wolfiez, competitiveness is just
in his nature. I mean, he's an absolute world beater. In
everything he does, he's so competitive and he's so hard on
himself to get better, that I think that is really the
mentality you need to be the best and consistently stay the
best. Now there are certain things around his game that we
can help him with and to allow that to be a bit more
consistent, but the mentality that he's got on that raw drive
is exactly what he needs. And yeah, he's going to be an
absolute superstar.
So the biggest hurdle I think Wolfiez is going to face
in his very young career is really the fact that he's going
to be pulled in so many different directions. So it's
really hard for a young professional to stay focused and
stay determined and just keep chugging along.
And for someone like Wolfiez, he's already proven
that he has that it factor. From the Fortnite World Cup to all
the recent online competitions, it's only a matter of time
before these LANs kick back up, and he's going to be there
competing once again. It doesn't look like he's going to stop
anytime soon.
Oh yeah, I would definitely think that's the
hardest part for him right now. Keeping up with how well he's
been doing and with how much attention there is around him
right now. I think I saw a statistic the other day. He's
been like one of the top five players of Europe over all the
recent events.
He's shown that he can show up on that big stage and he
just needs to go that one step further this time. And I think
if we can work with him over the next year or so, before that
event, he'll be in a great position to go win the whole
thing.
Jaden is a young man now and it's the point where I
need to let him get on with it. But at the same point, Jaden is
going to make his own choices and create the path that he
wants to follow now. I'm very confident that Jaden has got a
very steady and long career ahead of him.
[Music]
So the goal is to me is to be healthy and be a bit more
active physically and just feel happy - just in myself. So the
goals to me in the future are just to create a solid brand for
me and EXCEL together. After eSports, I want to kind of
create games and help game development maybe. Create
content for a while. Not too competitive and just have fun
with it.
[Music]