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- Tyler "Ninja" Blevins is the most popular professional gamer in the world, and the most followed streamer on Twitch, Amazon’s video game streaming platform.
- On Thursday, Ninja announced that he will now be streaming exclusively on Mixer, Microsoft’s streaming video game platform.
- Ninja will leave more than 14 million followers behind on Twitch, along with a large number of paid subscribers.
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Tyler "Ninja" Blevins, the most popular professional gamer in the world, will begin broadcasting exclusively on Microsoft’s video game streaming platform Mixer starting on August 2.
The exclusivity deal was announced on Thursday — it’s unclear how far into the future the deal extends, or how much Microsoft paid to pull Ninja away from his current streaming home, Twitch.
Ninja began his streaming career eight years ago as a "Halo" player, before turning into a cultural phenomenon best known for playing "Fortnite." He has amassed more than 14 million followers on Twitch, the top video game streaming platform owned by Amazon.
That’s twice as many as the second most popular Twitch streamer.
Epic Games
"I never would have thought that I could build a career by doing what I love, and I am extremely grateful for the incredible experiences that I have had," Ninja said in a press release. "As I look at the next step in my career, achieving bigger goals in the gaming industry with Mixer will allow me to have the perfect balance of opportunities and success."
Ninja will kick off his first Mixer stream during Lollapalooza 2019. He stream will broadcast live from a Red Bull sponsored studio from August 2 through August 4.
Ninja has been vocal about his desire to expand his career repertoire beyond "Fortnite." Despite his massive audience, Ninja has discussed the stress of trying to maintain a healthy base of paid subscribers on Twitch.
Ninja will also attend broader gaming events throughout the year in support of Mixer. Microsoft’s streaming service launched in 2016 and is featured on the Xbox dashboard, but has failed to gain traction in comparison to Twitch and YouTube. Ninja’s arrival will help boost the platform’s visibility but its unclear whether Ninja’s millions of fans will follow him to Mixer.
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Source: Business Insider – kwebb@businessinsider.com (Kevin Webb)