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FaZe Clan, the self-proclaimed “most popular esports organization in the world”, just launched a talent academy. According to the organization, FaZe Academy exists to find and nurture upcoming generations of esports talent, streamers, and content creators of all kinds.
Putting Things in Place Ahead of Launch
FaZe Clan plans for its new academy to take off entirely sometime in early 2021 – with the inaugural class set to be revealed in January of next year. Aside from young talent from other streams of discovery, the winners of this year’s FaZe 5 challenge – FaZe Clan’s public try-out tournament – will be part of FaZe academy’s first ever freshman class.
FaZe Clan also launched the official apparel for its academy yesterday, December 8, at 8 pm GMT.
The Proposed Structure of the Program
According to the organization, the esports program will comprise four stages: Scouting, Bootcamp, Apprenticeship, and Acceptance. Cleverly titled “The Journey”, participants have to scale through these four stages, in that particular order, for them to be offered a spot in the main FaZe Clan esports roster.
While providing more information on its plans, the esports outfit also confirmed that there isn’t a ceiling on the number of participants that will graduate from the academy.
Speaking to Esports Insider, Darren Yan, the VP of Talent at FaZa Clan, had this to say about the structure and methodology of the program:
“We very much invest in personal strategies and individual personal brands. Moreover, each participant of FaZe Academy will be given a customized regime, alongside dedicated staff, which will be tailored to the individual. Once you come in, each candidate would be given what’s called a ‘Hit Squad’. The Hit Squad includes a talent manager and a representative from the comms and PR team. They have a representative of the production team, should they ever need help on any technical stuff. They also have someone from the audience development team that helps them out with strategies on all their socials, including streaming and branding. Then, of course, they have their talent manager under my group who is there day-to-day.”
Pressing Forward
With the scouting stage almost over, Yan also revealed that the selected participants will travel to Los Angeles to be part of a five-day boot camp. This, of course, will be run under strict COVID-19 guidelines. The participants will go through topics ranging from content strategy to media training and audience development in these five days.
When that is done, the selected participants will move straight into the three-month rigorous apprenticeship program. Here, they will be vetted as well as coached and trained by in-house staff.
Speaking on the potential impact this project could have on esports as a whole, FaZe Clan’s COO said:
“It (the academy) is designed to help the participants achieve their goals and better understand how far they can take their entrepreneurial spirit and unmatched talent. We want to support their personal brands, help them navigate superstardom while also achieving our larger vision for FaZe Clan.”
Great News From a Great Esports Team
It is genuinely heartwarming to see FaZe Academy extend its organizational ethos and esports expertise to the younger generation. Without a doubt, this platform will produce some of the best esports players and content creators for the future.