20 years ago he became the best player in Warcraft 3 at 18, today he’s bigger than ever thanks to WoW on Twitch

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The Dutch e-athlete and Twitch streamer Manuel “Grubby” Schenkhuizen (38) has had a wild career and it is closely linked to Blizzard’s games. More than 20 years ago he was one of the most successful e-athletes in Warcraft 3. Today, at 38, he is experiencing a resurgence on Twitch thanks to WoW Classic. Even otherwise cynical users have to shed a tear and give him credit.

This was Grubby’s first career: Grubby was a successful e-athlete from 2003 to 2011 in strategy games such as Warcraft 3, Starcraft 2 and Age of Empires. He specialized in “two vs. two” formats.

His heyday as an e-athlete took place between 2003 and 2013, although his games did not offer as much prize money as CS:GO, DOTA 2 or LoL later. Nevertheless, he was able to earn $303,000 in prize money from 117 tournaments in Warcraft 3 and another $58,000 with Starcraft 2. His biggest success was a victory at the World Cyber ​​Games in 2004, when he took home $25,000 (via esportearnings).

Grubby is an absolute legend for many who followed e-sports back in the day.

Blizzard bans the man who ruined WoW Hardcore

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Grubby grinds Twitch, but his games don’t really work

This is now his 2nd career: Grubby switched to being an influencer. Like many former e-athletes, he started out as a caster for tournaments and is dedicated to Hearthstone. He has been on Twitch since 2011.

Grubby has been a constant presence on the platform ever since his numbers began to be tracked on Twitch. For 9 years it was always in the range between 3,000 and 6,000 spectators, which is very good in absolute terms, but these are also places where you still have to work hard to be successful. In any case, his career essentially stagnated during all his time on Twitch. He never had a real breakthrough.

The picture shows Grubby on a trip to Moscow in 2008 (via YouTube).

The problem was that the games he played were never really popular:

  • In 2018, he streamed Warcraft 3 and Heroes of the Storm to around 5,000 viewers
  • In 2021 he showed Heroes of the Storm – a game that was almost dead at the time – to 1,900 spectators and Age of Empires IV to 4,200 spectators
  • In 2023 he landed on DOTA 2, a densely populated game, and had an average audience of 3,650

    • Grubby was certainly hoping for a career boost from the new edition of Warcraft 3: Reforged, but that was an absolute disaster for Blizzard.

    Blizzard also played a large role in Grubby’s personal life. This is how he got engaged to his future wife at BlizzCon 2009:

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    WoW Hardcore and OnlyFangs are now bringing him success

    This is now his breakthrough: Now, more than 20 years after his World Championship victory and 14 years into his Twitch career, Grubby has entered the mainstream. He is part of the “OnlyFangs” guild in WoW Hardcore. He also continues to show Warcraft 3.

    At WoW he now has an average of 4,500 viewers. In a stream from November 24th, he even reached a peak of 17,056 viewers – Grubby has never had so many simultaneous viewers since the data was collected.

    Now this is a highlight. Grubby reached level 60 in WoW Hardcore and sang a somewhat silly song in celebration:

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    That’s what’s special. In the comments, users of the otherwise cynical Reddit “LivestreamFail” celebrate the streamer’s life’s work:

  • “This is such a beautiful and honest moment. He’s what any content creator would die for.”
  • “He brings in a breath of fresh air. He is balanced, calm, has exciting insights and is funny.”
  • “Ironically, he’s one of the first live streamers.”
  • “It’s great that it reaches 9,000 viewers. He’s always been a great streamer, I’ve been following him since 2015 since he streamed Heroes of the Storm. I’m proud of him.”
  • “I think the first streamers did this before the big money was involved. They streamed for the love of gaming. Back then you had to be good at the games to get attention.”

    • WoW Classic and OnlyFangs are currently a career catalyst for many streamers. Streamers like Grubby are coming to the top. Streamers like Sodapoppin, who were always big before, are finally going through the roof. Only one person isn’t looking so good right now: Streamer flees into WoW Hardcore, abandons the group and lies coldly: “I couldn’t have done anything”

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