Guild Esports plc (LON:GILD), a global team organisation and lifestyle brand, has announced the signing of Jannis Matwin (‘JannisZ’) as the fifth member of its pro Fortnite team.
JannisZ, from Germany, is currently ranked third in Europe and is a two-time winner of the Fortnite Champion Series (FNCS). This includes the tournament’s most recent competition which he won this month alongside teammate and fellow Guild pro Henrik Mclean (‘Hen’), as announced last week. Since becoming a competitive player in 2019, JannisZ has won over US$180,000 in tournament earnings to date.
JannisZ has a combined social media following of 766,000 comprising 122,000 followers on Instagram, 103,000 YouTube subscribers, 302,000 followers on Twitch and 239,000 on Twitter. His other notable wins include Fortnite’s 2020 Champion Series Invitational Europe and the 2020 Marvel Duo Cup.
Aged 15, he has signed a one-year contract with Guild, which has an option to renew for another year. He will be competing under the Guild banner in all upcoming European and international Fortnite tournaments, starting with FNCS Chapter 2 Season 6 on 22 April. JannisZ joins Guild’s other top-ranked players, Henrik Mclean (‘Hen’), Nikolaj Andreas Frøslev (‘Flikk’), Anas El-Abd (‘Anas’) and Tai Starčič (‘TaySon’).
Firmly established as one of the most popular esports, Fortnite has over 350 million players worldwide. In December 2020, a record 15.3 million concurrent players took part in the Galactus in-game event and it was watched by 3.4 million fans on Twitch and YouTube gaming.
Carleton Curtis, Guild Esports Executive Chairman, said “We are excited to have JannisZ join Guild, which further strengthens our position as Europe’s most dominant and decorated Fortnite team organisation. At 15, JannisZ has already established himself as one of the world’s best players, and his recent FNCS win demonstrates he’ll stay on top for years to come. He strengthens our already-formidable team, currently ranked No.1 in Europe, and we look forward to working with JannisZ to facilitate his growth as a player and build on his success to date.”
