Gaming
esports
iiTzTimmy versus everybody
The wunderkind streamer is ready to take on the world.
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There are all sorts of different ways to become a famous streamer. Some gamers leverage their buoyant personalities into bubbly, laconic hangouts — cooking, cleaning, and chatting with the camera until they're swaddled by a durable community. Others dive headfirst into the drama of the platform, and always find themselves at the heart of whatever scandal is brewing on the internet. But while iiTzTimmy possesses plenty of charisma and likability, his first wave of fans congregated on his channel for a much more substantial reason; Timmy is simply really, really good at games.
iiTzTimmy
© Marv Watson / Red Bull Content Pool
"I was just kind of grinding the game, seeing if I could make an audience from nothing," said Timmy. "So one person would be, like, 'Wow you're really good.' One person after another started saying that, and I slowly grew in the scene by those connections."
The hard work has clearly paid off. Today, Timmy is one of the most popular streamers in the world. He has over 400,000 followers on Twitter, more than 2,500,000 followers on Twitch, and stands as the reigning Streamer Award winner for his Battle Royale expertise. Currently, Timmy is signed to the 100 Thieves and he's also been inaugurated as an official Red Bull athlete. His event, iiTzTimmy's Hot Drop, is taking place on April 24-April 27, where he will be traveling up and down the coast of Southern California and into Arizona to play Valorant with some of the best gamers in the Southwest. Timmy just turned 23 in April and the future is impossibly bright.
It's not hard to see why a global audience has fallen in love with Timmy's game. His FPS instincts are razor sharp. A usual Timmy viral clip begins with the streamer looking dead to rights; he's out-numbered and out-gunned, and about to be condemned back to the matchmaking queue. But then, in the blink of an eye, Timmy manages to break line of sight. His hero bobs and weaves across the geometry, while his crosshair remains miraculously connected to the heads and chests of his assailants. After a few shots, and a Matrix-defying dodge, the room is cleared. It's poetry in motion. We love and hate how easy he makes it look.
iiTzTimmy
© Leslie Colon / Red Bull Content Pool
Timmy always knew he was good, but — at least early on in his career — he was hesitant to compare himself to the majesty of, say, shroud. "I could make the higher ranks in whatever game I was playing, and on my teams with my friends, I was always the fragger," he said. Perhaps Timmy's modesty is one of his best attributes; he's maintained a lifelong fascination with the trials of training and improvement; the slow, painful dirge of incremental progress. There's probably no better example of that than Timmy's infamous 2021 marathon stream, where he took the solo queue ranking on a fresh, wet-behind-the-ears Apex Legends account from Bronze to Predator in about 50 hours. There are Apex diehards who have played the game for years without sniffing those aureate skill tiers. Timmy knocked it out in about two days.
"A lot of my journey has been trying to grow as a player; improving my aiming and decision making. One of the biggest challenges was to make myself known, and after that, I was like, 'What do I do now?' That's why I set up these challenges," says Timmy. "I've done a lot in Apex, and realistically, there's not much more I can do."
iiTzTimmy
© Marv Watson / Red Bull Content Pool
Timmy has already found his next mountain to climb. In March 2023, the prodigal streamer announced he would be making his long-awaited return to professional Apex Legends. At last, one of the best players in the world is again throwing his hat in the esports ring. As of this writing, he's looking for a team to join for the forthcoming Challenger Circuit Split. His talents will surely be in high demand.
I want to be an outstanding player among my peers, and I want to show that in front of other people's eyes.
"I want to be better than other players. I want to be an outstanding player among my peers, and I want to show that in front of other people's eyes. I know I'm good, but am I the best player in the world? Definitely not. And that's why I want to get back into competitive play," he says. "Eventually I'll get to a skill level where people can put me in the top 10 or the top five. When you play casually, you're just looking for a few moments to elevate your mechanical gameplay. But in professional play, the challenge is all in your head. It's a mental game. It's all about not getting outplayed by the other team."
iiTzTimmy at Timmy's Arcade 2022 at the Coin - Op Game Room in San Diego
© Leslie Colon / Red Bull Content Pool
Of course, when Timmy first announced he'd be stepping back into the professional fold, he noted that he struggled with some serious mental health issues during his first stint in the crucible — back when he was playing for the Golden Guardians. I was curious to learn if there was anything unique about being a Twitch star that could accentuate the challenges with anxiety and depression we all tend to face; if, perhaps, Timmy's cyclical quest to perform at the highest level can gnaw at his insecurities. Here's how he explained it to me.
"A lot of the mental health challenges come from the chat, but personally, in my career, I never took offense to somebody calling me weird or cringe. That never hit me," said Timmy. "For me, it's more about how you find yourself comparing your career to others. 'Why are my numbers not that good? Why don't I have as many views?' Obviously you're happy for your peers, but you also want to be happy internally, as well. And that can get tough when it feels like you're not moving in any direction."
Timmy, of course, has his whole life ahead of him. He's at the dawn of a lauded streaming, and professional, gaming career, as he just turned 23 recently. You get the sense that he could accomplish anything he sets his mind towards — even if it takes 50 hours on Twitch — so I ask him, at the end of our conversation, what he hopes the future holds.
"I'd like to go to the moon," says Timmy. Given his pedigree, he'll probably pull it off.
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