Dominique McLean (born March 2, 1998), known professionally as SonicFox, is an American professional esports player of several fighting games. They have topped many tournaments, including seven Evolution Championship Series (EVO) events for five different game franchises. They are the highest paid fighting game esports player in the world as of August 4, 2019, with over $719,204.94 in earnings.[2] McLean was named Esports Player of the Year at The Game Awards 2018 and included in Forbes's 2020 "30 Under 30" for Games.
| SonicFox | |
|---|---|
 SonicFox at Combo Breaker 2019 | |
| Personal information | |
| Name | Dominique McLean |
| Born | March 2, 1998[1] |
| Nationality | American |
| Career information | |
| Playing career | 2012–present |
| Team history | |
| 2014–2015 | Revolution Gaming |
| 2015–2016 | Critical Reaction |
| 2017–2019 | Echo Fox |
| 2020–2023 | Evil Geniuses |
McLean is openly gay,[3] non-binary,[4] and a furry. They are known to participate in fighting game tournaments in the fursuit of their fursona, a blue-and-white anthropomorphic fox.[5]
Career
editMcLean's older brother, Christian, got McLean interested in fighting video games when McLean was three years old.[6] Over the next several years, while McLean continued to play games, they came into the furry fandom around the age of ten or eleven, and developed the "SonicFox" character.[5]
Around 2011, McLean was playing in non-competitive online Mortal Kombat games, and their online friends encouraged them to try their skills at an offline Mortal Kombat tournament in 2012.[7] While McLean only came in ninth at the event, they were enthralled with the competitive atmosphere, and they have continued to participate in various fighting game championships.[5]
McLean achieved a 6–0 victory at the Injustice: Gods Among Us tournament at Evo 2014.[8] News.com.au reported in December 2015 that McLean had not lost a single tournament in the previous 18 months, and that they earned $150,000 USD within the span of two weeks by winning Mortal Kombat tournaments.[9]
McLean was named the "Esports Player of the Year" at The Game Awards 2018 ceremony, earning media attention for their acceptance speech.[10] Forbes included McLean on their 2020 "30 Under 30" in the Games category.[11]
On March 18, 2020, SonicFox signed with the fighting games division of the esports team Evil Geniuses.[12]
In 2020, SonicFox was added as a background character in Skullgirls.[13]
On October 12, 2023, SonicFox announced via their Twitter that they were no longer signed with Evil Geniuses and are actively looking for a team.[14]
Personal life
editMcLean was raised in Townsend, Delaware.[15] As of 2018, McLean was a student at the New York Institute of Technology.[5] McLean chose to focus on academics while still maintaining a balance between their professional gaming and school life.[16] In September 2019, McLean came out on Twitter as non-binary.[4][17][18] McLean publicly uses singular they pronouns, reserving use of masculine pronouns only for those to whom they are close, in order to help normalize the use of singular they.[19]
References
edit- ^ @SonicFox (March 2, 2022). "So many birthday wishes to keep track of 😭 Thank you so much! Cheers to many more birthdays! 24 now!" (Tweet). Retrieved June 24, 2024 – via Twitter.
- ^ Sonoma, Serena (August 4, 2019). "SonicFox, Gay "LeBron James of Gaming," Is Still Winning". Out Magazine. Archived from the original on May 13, 2021. Retrieved May 13, 2021.
- ^ @SonicFox (August 4, 2019). "Im gay And the BEST MK11 PLAYER ON THE PLANET DONT FORGET IT" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ a b @SonicFox (September 3, 2019). "Hey ya'll! I've been thinking critically about myself these last couple of months, and my entire life perspective o…" (Tweet). Retrieved September 3, 2019 – via Twitter.
- ^ a b c d Myers, Maddy; Tayamo, Paul (October 15, 2018). "Meet SonicFox, The Queer Furry Who's Destroying Everyone Else At Fighting Games". Kotaku. Archived from the original on October 15, 2018. Retrieved December 7, 2018.
- ^ Lelinwalla, Mark (September 15, 2017). "Meet The Guy Who Has Your Dream Job". BET. Archived from the original on August 10, 2020. Retrieved December 7, 2018.
- ^ Sankin, Aaron (December 10, 2015). "Dominique 'Sonic Fox' McLean is at the top of his game". The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved December 7, 2018.
- ^ Warr, Philippa (July 15, 2014). "The ridiculous battles of EVO 2014 you have to see". Red Bull. Archived from the original on January 18, 2024. Retrieved October 17, 2019.
- ^ Dunn, Matthew (December 15, 2015). "Dominique 'Sonic Fox' McLean made $150,000 in two weeks playing Mortal Kombat". News.com.au. Archived from the original on September 22, 2020. Retrieved October 17, 2019.
- ^ Alexandra, Heather (December 7, 2018). "SonicFox Steals The Show At The Game Awards". Kotaku. Archived from the original on December 7, 2018. Retrieved December 7, 2018.
- ^ Perez, Matt; Cai, Kenrick (December 3, 2019). "Forbes' 2020 30 Under 30 - Games: Leading a technological and artistic revolution". Forbes. Archived from the original on September 30, 2020. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
- ^ Smith, Noah. "SonicFox signs with Evil Geniuses". Washington Post. Archived from the original on July 18, 2020. Retrieved October 16, 2023.
- ^ Walker, Ian (May 26, 2020). "Skullgirls Honors Two High-Level Queer Players In Latest Update". Kotaku. Archived from the original on October 31, 2020. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
- ^ Mclaughlin, Declan (October 12, 2023). "FGC legend SonicFox leaves Evil Geniuses without a new destination". dexerto. Archived from the original on January 18, 2024. Retrieved October 16, 2023.
- ^ Van Allen, Eric (January 26, 2019). "How a Trash-Talking Furry Became Esports' Dominant Player". Wired. Archived from the original on August 5, 2020. Retrieved January 26, 2019.
- ^ "Student Profile: Dominique "SonicFox" McLean | Box | New York Tech". www.nyit.edu. Archived from the original on October 19, 2021. Retrieved October 19, 2021.
- ^ Bell, Brian C. (September 5, 2019). "Evo champion SonicFox comes out as non-binary". Outsports. Archived from the original on March 3, 2020. Retrieved February 13, 2020.
- ^ "SonicFox, the gay, furry, esports player of 2018, sounds off and won't stop". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on September 22, 2021. Retrieved October 19, 2021.
- ^ @SonicFox (September 13, 2019). "Also to clarify on my pronouns, I am alright with most of my close friends to use he or they, but I've been specifically letting the FGC only use they/them. It isn't as normalized in that environment, and am trying to change that in this space! It's been working well!!!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.