Johnathan Wendel

Johnathan Wendel at Computex 2007.

Johnathan Wendel at E3 2014.

Johnathan Wendel (* 26. February 1981 , better known under his online - pseudonym Fatal1ty ) is a former professional gamers . He was one of the first professional computer gamers in the USA and is known far beyond the country's borders today. He owes his reputation in particular to his skills in Quake II and Quake III Arena . He started in various tournaments in the USA in 1998, but his breakthrough only came in 1999 when he joined the Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL).

Career

In Dallas , Wendel took 3rd place at his first CPL appearance and thus gained his first reputation. He worked continuously on his skills in the following weeks and months, before finally flying to Sweden and competing there with the 12 best Quake players. Wendel won 18 games in a row and finished the tournament as the winner without a single defeat, making him one of the best Quake III players in the world.

Two months later, it drove him back to Dallas, where he was supposed to defend his title as allegedly the world's best Quake player and won $ 40,000 in prize money. Since defending his title at the latest, he has become a fixture in e-sports and over the years he has traveled the world to compete with other greats in the Quake scene.

In 2004, he won first place in the Quake-like game Doom 3 at QuakeCon, which was endowed with 25,000 US dollars, and again demonstrated his class. In addition to playing, Jonathan Wendel also knew how to build up a second mainstay if his ProGaming career should end. He is rewarded by various sponsors ( Creative Labs , Zalman , Abit etc.) for his presence at various trade fairs or gaming events, which meanwhile also means that a mainboard manufacturer, for example, carries a product line with his name (English brand) . Examples include the Fatal1ty AN8 motherboard from Abit as well as a headset and certain X-Fi sound card versions (e.g. the X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Pro Series ) from Creative . In the meantime, Nvidia also offered graphics cards that bore the name of Fatal1ty. Garments with Wendels logo (a futuristically designed F ) are also available on the market.

In November 2004, Wendel had another chance to write esports history. The highest win to date of 125,000 US dollars was won in the final of the ACON Fatal1ty Shootout in China, named after him by his sponsor , but Wendel failed in the said final against the 21-year-old Chinese Meng "RocketBoy" Yang (with 4: 26). Nevertheless, Wendel rated the event in China as a great success, as he and his sponsor were able to immensely promote e-sports in China.

On May 16, 2005, the renowned Time Magazine dedicated a report to him.

With his win at the CPL Summer 2005 in Painkiller , Fatal1ty achieved what no player before him had achieved: four CPL titles in four different games. He won the title in Quake III Arena , Unreal Tournament 2003 , Alien vs. Predator 2 and Painkiller . On November 22, 2005, he finally won the Grand Finals of the CPL World Tour in Painkiller , which brought him prize money of 150,000 US dollars.

Sports reporter Peter Schrager named Wendel the number two most feared athlete in an article on FOXsports.com in November 2005, right after Mike Tyson .

See also

• List of the most successful e-athletes by prize money

Web links

• Official website ( Memento of April 10, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
• TV report about Fatal1ty (Engl.)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} 20 Richest E-sports Players. In: Peta Movies - All Facts And News You Need To Know. April 26, 2016. Retrieved July 22, 2019 (American English).