12-year-old Fortnite player from Japan gives up middle school to pursue pro gaming and YouTube career 

Tarou, a 12-year-old Fortnite streamer with over 181k YouTube subscribers, announced on February 8 that he has decided not to enroll in middle school (junior high in Japan) after graduating from elementary school. The news has become something of a hot topic among Japanese people, with Tarou’s original post on X reaching over 33.5 million people and prompting an array of conflicting reactions. 

According to Yutura, Tarou has been playing Fortnite every day since he was in the first grade of elementary school and is a regular in the game’s Unreal leaderboard. At the age of 10, he ranked 1st in the Asia solo leaderboard and 23rd globally. As of last year, he is a member of the esports team EDGE. 

Tarou will graduate elementary school this year and does not plan to enroll in middle school. He explains on X that the decision is meant to ensure he gets enough time to sleep, exercise and study while playing Fortnite competitively and pursuing his YouTube career. He apparently discussed the matter with his parents and school for a year prior to making his decision public. 

In response to a commenter, Tarou further explains that “if I were to enroll in middle school, I would only have about 4 hours a day to practice Fortnite after coming home from school.” He argues that with 4 hours a day, it would be possible to get on equal footing with other pro gamers, but that this amount of practice would not be enough to surpass the competition and tackle the global scene. “This is because serious and professional gamers practice 7 to 10 hours a day.” 

While Tarou’s fans have responded with words of encouragement, there has been a lot of backlash in response to the news as well, with users suggesting the possibility of Fortnite shutting down in the near future, as well as other risks and drawbacks to missing out on further education. 

On the other hand, Tarou’s posts suggest that he plans to continue studying privately despite not officially furthering his education. He has expressed an interest in civil engineering and construction, and plans to start learning about these fields starting this year.