Dominique McLean (born March 2, 1998), known professionally as SonicFox, is an American professional esports player of several fighting games. They[a] have topped many tournaments, including six 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.[3] McLean was named Esports Player of the Year at The Game Awards 2018 and included in Forbes's 2020 "30 Under 30" for Games.
McLean's older brother, Christian, got McLean interested in fighting video games when McLean was three years old.[7] 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.[6]
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.[8] 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.[6]
McLean achieved a 6–0 victory at the Injustice: Gods Among Us tournament at Evo 2014.[9]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.[10]
McLean was named the "Esports Player of the Year" at The Game Awards 2018 ceremony, earning media attention for their acceptance speech.[11]Forbes included McLean on their 2020 "30 Under 30" in the Games category.[12]
On March 18, 2020, SonicFox signed with the fighting games division of the esports team Evil Geniuses.[13]
In 2020, SonicFox was added as a background character in Skullgirls.[14]
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.[15]
McLean was raised in Townsend, Delaware.[16] As of 2018, McLean was a student at the New York Institute of Technology.[6] McLean chose to focus on academics while still maintaining a balance between their professional gaming and school life.[17] In September 2019, McLean came out on Twitter as non-binary.[5][18][19] 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.[20][2]
