Fortnite gamer FaZe Jarvis has told fans he is leaving his £11.6million Los Angeles mansion to return to the UK after he was banned from playing the game for life.
Jarvis Kaye, better known as FaZe Jarvis, 17, was permanently banned from playing the video game after being accused of cheating.
After uploading a tearful apology telling his two million followers he is not allowed to return to the game, he has now posted a video to say he is going home.
He said: ‘I want to let you all know is that you’re going to make mistakes in your life but the most important thing is how you learn from those mistakes and become a better person.
‘Taking a break isn’t going to be easy, but I know it’s the right thing. I’m heading home for a bit to be with my family and reflect on what’s most important to me in life and what’s next.’
Jarvis (front) is pictured with his brotehrs Chandler and Frazier and their mother Barbara
Jarvis Kaye is pictured with his headset on celebrating a Fortnite win
This week he revealed the sprawling LA home he has been living in, which overlooks the city from the Hollywood Hills and boasts a swimming pool, cinema and a strip pole.
But after a ‘crazy year’ and a ‘huge learning process’, he said in a YouTube video today: ‘I’m heading home for a bit to be with my family and reflect on what’s most important to me in life and what’s next.’
Mr Kaye’s mother Barbara Khattri lives in a £1.3million detached home in the picturesque Surrey commuter town of Oxted.
He will go back there to spend time with her and his two brothers, he said.
The family lives in this pretty detached home (above) worth £1.3million in the leafy Surrey commuter-belt town of Oxted
He is giving up his £11.6million Los Angeles mansion (pictured) to return to the UK to ‘reflect’
Mr Kaye was brought up in a middle-class family by his mother, who runs a successful consultancy business.
In today’s video he explained: ‘I lived the majority of my life with my mum, my grandma and my brothers.
‘I used to be a pretty normal kid. I was a bit quiet and shy.But this all changed one Christmas when Frazier and I got given our first PlayStation.’
Defending her son at the family home in Surrey last week, his mother Mrs Khattri told MailOnline: ‘Jarvis made an error and he admits that. But the gaming community needs to re-think how it treats people.
‘He’s broken. He loves that game. He doesn’t have a devious bone in his body and what I really know is that for any mistake that doesn’t physically harm a person there should be the chance to make amends.’
FaZe had two million subscribers who would spend hours following his every move as he navigated the video game.
He and his brother Frazier, known as FaZe Kay, are said to have helped make ‘The FaZe Clan’, the esports team the brothers represent, £6.2million in the past year – including £2.4million in prize money plus a further £3.8million from sponsorship deals.
The luxury mansion has its own swimming pool where Kaye and his fellow gamers can relax
There is also a large cinema room, gym and part of the home features a stripper pole
Kaye and his fellow gamers can take a break from their screens and look out over LA
Fortnite is a battle royale-style survival shooter where players create a superhero avatar and compete against each other on a dystopian island to be the last one standing. The game boasts hundreds of millions of viewers worldwide.
Mr Kaye did not cheat during a competitive match, but uploaded videos showing him using aimbots in a public game using an alternative account.
The teenager made a tearful apology after the software company outlawed him from playing the game.
However, his apology, which has been viewed more than six million times on his YouTube channel, has already earned him £20,000.
YouTuber Jarvis Kaye – known as FaZe Jarvis – burst into tears as he admitted to his two million subscribers that he had been banned for life from playing Fortnite for bending the rules
He revealed his lifetime ban on Twitter when he told his 2million subscribers his bad news
In a tweet the 17-year-old, who has nearly 600,000 followers on Twitch, said: ‘I’m going to take accountability for my actions and I understand completely why this has happened, I just wish I had known how severe the consequences were at the time and I would have never thought about doing it.’
He added: ‘I love all of you who still support me, this is not the end.’
In the teary video apology, he continued: ‘All I was thinking about whilst I was making those videos was just how entertaining and interesting these videos would be for you guys to watch.
‘It didn’t even cross my mind to think that I could be banned for life from Fortnite from those videos.
‘I just want to be clear that this is the first time that I have ever done anything like this and of course I have never done this in a competitive game mode at all.’
The length of his an has caused a split in the gaming community, with many leaping to the pro gamer’s defence.
Fans quickly started using #FreeJarvis on Twitter, pointing out that many people have done similar things, but been givn much shorter bans.
Mr Kaye’s brother – known as FaZe Kay – posted a copy of the video he made and tweeted: ‘I can’t put into words how upset Jarvis has been this week…please take your time to watch this video and share it.’
While many other gamers also leapt to his defence and implored bosses at Fornite to give the 17-year-old another chance and rescind his lengthy ban.
Part of the issue that has riled up some gamers is that two players, called Xxif and Ronaldo, were found guilty of cheating during the qualifiers for a professional tournament, but were only banned for two weeks.
It is unclear if Epic Games will stick to their lengthy ban or not.
WHAT IS FORTNITE?
Fortnite is a game that originally launched as a disk back in July 2017 and was then turned into a free-to-download game by its developer, Epic Games, in September.
There are three forms of the game: ‘Battle Royale’, ‘Save The World’ and ‘Playground’.
Save the world is the original form of the game and is currently not available to play as part of the free-to-download game, instead it comes as part of a £30 ($40) extra.
It is a co-op mode with a story that’s playable solo or online with friends.
Fortnite is a battle royale-style survival shooter where players create a superhero avatar and compete against each other on a dystopian island
Users compete in teams of up to three to complete a variety of missions.
It is rumoured that the game will be added to the free-to-play version of the game in the future.
Whilst Save The World may be the original version of the game, its sister mode is by far the most popular.
Battle Royale is a game of survival where players create a superhero avatar and compete against each other on a dystopian island.
Each game, or ‘match’ as each competition is known, starts with 100 players.
The aim of the game is to be the last one standing. Users can form allegiances and play in small groups.
To enable this and the interactive experience, the game allows completely open communication between players.
Inspired by the Hunger Games novels and films, gamers search for weapons to help them survive.
Armed with quirky weapons and amusing dances, the game has swept across the gaming world, with children flocking to it.
While there is no exact figure on how many children play Fortnite, the game has so far pulled in an audience of over 125 million players.
Playground is the latest addition to the game and is a consequence free mode with more loot and unlimited respawning to allow players to get creative.
It involved groups of up to four people working as a team and the players can hone their skills as the practise in advance of entering Battle Royale where they will face better players.