The streamer Tyler “Ninja” Blevins became a star on Twitch with Fortnite in 2018. But the mood towards him has changed. He is struggling with this role: As the “first gamer in the mainstream”, he is now not receiving as much support from fans as he did as an outsider.
Where does Ninja say that? The streamer Tyler “Ninja” Blevins (28) was a guest on a podcast with Brian “True Geordie” Davis, an English YouTuber. For over an hour and a half, Ninja discusses his journey, controversies, successes, and failures.
He says he decided early on to focus fully on Fortnite. After switching from PUBG to the new game, viewer numbers initially dropped a bit, but then there was almost a year of incredible growth and lots of love. But that ended abruptly.
From the celebrated outsider to No. 1, who is no longer praised
This is what Ninja says about his position:
“I was the total underdog and only received love when things were going up – from everyone. Before it happened with Drake, during, and afterward, there was a good year of just love for me. Everyone complimented me. People said they were proud of me, that I was doing great, that I was representing the gaming community well. That was there all the time, it was incredible.
And coming down from that high last year… Now all of that is gone.
Tyler “Ninja” Blevins
Today, nobody compliments him anymore, nobody says “Well done, Ninja.”
Everyone wants to see the champ fall
The podcaster then says: “As soon as you’re the champ, they want to see you lose.” This is also true for fighters in the UFC. As soon as someone even looks a little unbeatable, everyone just wants to see them lose.
Ninja agrees.
We fast-forwarded the video to the point where Ninja talks about this change. The segment starts at 10:46 minutes.
In the interview, Ninja explains what special role he plays:
After 8 years of streaming and 10 years as a pro gamer, Fortnite was his breakthrough – to outsiders, he seemed like a newcomer, but he had worked hard for it. But outwardly, he had to be grateful that he even got such opportunities to appear in the mainstream as a “gamer”.
As the “first gamer in the mainstream”, Ninja broke through several barriers, but was always an exception who was treated differently: While he was invited to big talk shows, he was not a “normal guest”, but was supposed to play Fortnite, as the viewers there could not relate to gaming.
The podcaster then says: Nobody expects David Beckham to play football in a talk show. Ninja agrees with that too.
The “spotlight” had never been so much on gaming before him and Fortnite, Ninja explains. A lot came together.
This is what lies behind it: Especially this withdrawal of love, which Ninja suffered since he has been at the top, seems to be troubling him.
While Ninja received many compliments as the “underdog”, he has been subjected to many attacks as the “number 1”. These seem to bother him.
Meanwhile, Ninja streams on the Mixer platform and reaches significantly fewer viewers than before – but the mood of the “gaming public” towards him had already changed in the months before the switch: about with the emergence of the “younger rival”, Tfue.
