| Johnathan Wendel (Fatal1ty) | |
|---|---|
| Fatal1ty | |
| Status | Active |
| Date of birth | February 26, 1981 |
| Hometown | Independence, Missouri |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Current team | Independent |
| Games | Quake Quake 2 Quake 3 Aliens versus Predator 2 Return to Castle Wolfenstein Call of Duty 2 Counter-Strike: Source Unreal Tournament 2003 Doom 3 Painkiller Quake 4 Counter-Strike Team Fortress 2 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 |
| [http://www.fatal1ty.com Official website] | |
Johnathan Wendel (born February 26, 1981), also known by the pseudonym Fatal1ty (pronounced Fatality), is a professional electronic sports player, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. Jonathan is considered the world's first prominent and accomplished professional gamer.[1] He is also considered one of the best professional gamers in the world.[2]
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Wendel has won approximately US$500,000 in cash and prizes from professional competitions, mainly in the Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL). In addition to receiving numerous product partnerships with his company Fatal1ty Brand (Fatal1ty, Inc.), he has been featured in mainstream newsprint publications such as Time, The New York Times, Forbes, and the BBC World Service. He has also been featured on 60 Minutes. He has a training regimen [3] where he practices at least eight hours each day, sometimes more.
Wendel has been a successful competitor in many first-person shooter games. He debuted as a professional gamer in October 1999 by placing 3rd in the Quake III Arena tournament at the CPL's FRAG 3 event. He has competed in tournaments with Counter-Strike, Call of Duty and Quake III Arena which he won with his team clan Kapitol at the first-ever CPL Teamplay World Championships (FRAG 4). Most of his successes have been with one-versus-one deathmatch games including Quake III Arena, Unreal Tournament 2003, and Painkiller. During his career, he has won a total of twelve world championship titles, including four player of the year awards with the Cyberathlete Professional League[4] and one with the World Cyber Games.[5]
On March 13, 2003, MTV featured Wendel on the True Life series. It was filmed in Kansas City, Kansas; San Antonio, Texas; and Dallas, Texas. The episode documented his life and how he prepared for the Cyberathlete Professional League's Winter 2002 Unreal Tournament 2003. Among those featured alongside Wendel in the professional gaming industry were his friends Phil "shogun" Kennedy, and Brian "astro" Lewis, who were also very well known in the professional gaming circuit.[6]
Wendel started a business, Fatal1ty, Inc., selling his brand of gaming mouse pads, "FATpads". He later expanded this into other gaming equipment through a business partnership with Universal abit, Creative Labs and XFX to create motherboards, coolers, sound cards, video cards, computer mice, computer cases, headphones, power supplies, and even clothes bearing his moniker.[7]
Wendel was the spokesman of the now defunct Championship Gaming Series and has temporarily put aside actively competing.[8]
Wendel was awarded the first Lifetime Achievement Award in the four-year history of the eSports Award.
All winnings listed are in USD.