Who is Wardell?
Matthew Yu is a professional Esports competitor. He started out as a CS:GO pro gamer for Ghost Gaming. He then shifted his focus to Valorant and is now with the Esports Team SoloMid (TSM). He is a notable FPS player in the Esports industry.
Personal Life
Wardell has done a great job keeping his personal life private. Little is known about him aside from his Esports career. In January of 2021, he did tweet about his girlfriend having higher stats after a Valorant match. However, it is unknown who she is and if they are still together.
Fun fact: Matt’s gamer tag is inspired by Stephen Curry (Wardell Stephen Curry II), the famous basketball player of the Golden State Warriors.
Wardell Before Becoming a Pro Player
Wardell did not immediately venture out to build a career in Esports. He supposedly was planning to become a gym teacher after completing his studies. Matt was set to study kinesiology at York University, which his immigrant mother was happy about.
He tried out the whole university experience before deciding that it really wasn’t what he wanted to do for the next couple of years. That’s when he decided to work hard and become successful as a pro player.
However, this decision produced a strained relationship between Matt and his mom. His immigrant mother had a difficult time understanding Matt’s decision to leave school since she believed that earning your degree secured your future.
Despite this, Wardell continued to hone his skills and eventually signed with Ghost Gaming. Wardell was soon able to prove that he could make a living by gaming and soon reconciled with his mother.
Today, Wardell’s net worth is somewhere between $1M and $5M. He’s now a Twitch star with a huge following and is also doing well with his YouTube channel. He’s also gaining more followers on his TikTok, Twitter, and Instagram accounts.
Apart from that, he has claimed plenty of victories with his CSGO and Valorant teams.
Wardell’s Achievements and Awards
Wardell has been a CSGO pro player since 2016. He retired from the game in 2020 to pursue a professional gaming career in Valorant in the same year. He’s gained many achievements and even bagged an award throughout his Esports career.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Achievements
Before his success as a Valorant player, he had his fair share of CSGO tournaments. Here are a few of his achievements as a CSGO pro player:
In 2016:
- 1st Place (B-Tier) – Fragadelphia 8 and 9
In 2018:
- 1st Place (B-Tier) – ZOTAC Cup Masters 2018 – Americas
- 3rd-4th Place (A-Tier) – ZOTAC Cup Masters 2018
- 7th-8th Place (S-Tier) – ESL Pro League Season 8 – Finals
- 1st Place (B-Tier) – NSG Eastern Conference Championship 2018
In 2019:
- 3rd-4th Place (A-Tier) – iBUYPOWER Masters IV
- 1st Place (B-Tier) – Fragadelphia 13
In 2020:
- 1st-2nd Place (B-Tier) – Flashpoint Season 1: LAN Qualifier
- 5th-6th Place (S-Tier) – Flashpoint Season 1
Valorant Achievements and Awards
In 2020, Wardell was awarded the Most Valuable Player award. This was during the FaZe Clan Invitational and his with the Team SoloMid.
Here are his notable achievements throughout his Esports pro gaming career.
In 2020:
- 2nd Place – Twitch Rivals: VALORANT Launch Showdown – North America
- 1st Place (B-Tier) – Immortals First Light
- 1st Place (C-Tier) – Lof x DTS Invitational Series
- 1st Place (A-Tier) – FaZe Clan Invitational
- 1st Place (B-Tier) – Pittsburgh Knights Invitational Gauntlet Series
- 1st Place – AORUS Xtreme Showdown
- 2nd Place (A-Tier) – First Strike North America
In 2021:
- 1st Place (A-Tier) – VCT 2021: North America Stage 3 Challengers 2
In 2022:
- 1st Place (C-Tier) – Knights Arena Monthly Gauntlet
In 2023, Wardell and his team, The Nation, entered the Valorant Challengers 2023: North America Split tournament. However, the were not able to advance in the tournament and lost to Dark Ratio and Susquehenna Soniqs.
Games that Wardell Plays
Nowadays, Wardell has focused his time and efforts on Valorant. However, as a Twitch streamer, he also plays and streams the following games.
- Valorant
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
- Escape from Tarkov
- Teamfight Tactics
- League of Legends
- Overwatch 2
- Apex Legends
- Raft
- Pokemon Trading Card Game
- Among Us
- Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodhunt
- NAKARA: BLADEPOINT
- Fall Guys
- Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Seige
- Phasmophobia
- Knockout City
His Twitch account also has Just Chatting content. And as a previous kinesiology student, Matt also has Fitness and Health content on his channel.
Social Media Presence
Along with being a pro gamer, Wardell has also grown into a social media personality. You can follow him on the following social networks:
Wardell Net Worth – How They Made Money
Wardell primarily earns a living from his Esports pro gaming career. However, he also makes money through his Twitch and YouTube channels. Let’s see how much money Wardell makes from his income sources.
How Much Does Wardell Earn From Twitch?
With over a million followers, Wardell’s Twitch earnings do sum up to a hefty amount. Matt earns from subscriptions, donations, and ads.
Wardell is a famous streamer on the platform and will most probably get tier-1 subscriptions from his followers. Twitch streamers earn $3.5 per tier 1 sub. He currently has a little over 600 active subs, according to TwitchTracker. However, he has peaked at 3,000 subs before.
His earnings per month do differ, but we can assume that he earns $2,100 to $11,000 per month on subscriptions.
Followers also have the option to give donations. With over 1 million followers, he can earn anywhere between $1000 to $5000 monthly.
For ads, streamers get paid $3 per 1000 views. According to StreamCharts, Wardell has accumulated over 1 million live views on his streams in the past 30 days. This earns him $3,000 on ads.
In total, Matt can earn a minimum of $6,000 and a maximum of $19,000 monthly on Twitch.
How Much Does Wardell Earn From YouTube?
Wardell earns through ads on YouTube. He makes $3 per 1000 views. Currently, he has an average of 4 million views per month. This earns him $12,000 in ad revenue monthly.
How Much Has Wardell Earned From Being a Professional Player?
Since 2016, Wardell has earned around $90,000 in prize money.
Who Sponsors Wardell?
Wardell has gained sponsors and brand deals with the following companies. However, it is unknown how much he earns from them.
- Rivalry is a website for online betting. Users can bet on various video games and other sports such as basketball, boxing, baseball, and many more.
- Logitech is a software and hardware brand for tech. They are most known for the high-quality computer equipment they sell.
- Aim Lab is a software that helps gamers to improve their first and third-person shooting skills.
Conclusion
We can all learn a thing or two from Matthew about knowing what we want and working hard to get it. His love for FPS games and his drive to succeed gave him his amazing streaming and gaming career. We can’t wait to see what he does next.
Chris
Chris is a marketing major with a strong background in small business and influencer branding. He applies his knowledge of content and promotional strategies to design actionable advice for new and intermediate streamers. When he’s not busy crunching analytics, he can be found in the salt pits of League of Legends.