Especially in 2018, Tyler “Ninja” Blevins (31) was the biggest streamer on Twitch and at that time the most famous gamer in the world. Through the success of the online shooter Fortnite the then blue-haired Blevins brought gaming into the mainstream and always wanted to climb higher. He wanted to become the “David Beckham” of gaming. Where does the streamer stand in 2023?
How big was Ninja back then? Ninja’s peak time was in 2018:
- In 2018, he streamed 3,013 hours on Twitch – at least 8 hours every day, even on Sundays and holidays. Later he said he was “a slave to the stream”, he didn’t even live anymore.
- The streamer averaged 77,700 viewers.
- Blevins peaked at over 617,000 people when he played the online shooter Fortnite together with rapper “Drake”. This was on March 14, 2018, then a Twitch record and to this day a milestone: Twitch and gaming finally made it to the mainstream.
Especially with followers, he set new standards on Twitch: Even today he has the largest channel on Twitch with 18.45 million followers.
During this time, money also rolled in heavily: In one month, he earned 5 million $ alone with the Creator Code in Fortnite. Epic Games had created special cosmetics for Fortnite in 2018 to funnel even more money to streamers.
Moreover, in some months, hundreds of thousands of US dollars flowed into his pockets just from Twitch subscriptions: In one month, Ninja had 269,000 subscribers – a long-standing record. The subscriptions alone in this record month were worth over 600,000 $.
Ninja achieved many things that no one had done before him: He brought gaming to the mainstream, made appearances on talk shows, was on the cover of sports magazines, and even appeared briefly in a Super Bowl commercial (via youtube).
During the heyday of Fortnite, the story circulated that a mother took her son out of school because of Fortnite:
Ninja looked like a complete pro at the beginning of Fortnite
Why was he so popular? Ninja discovered the game early during Fortnite: Battle Royale and rode the Fortnite wave like no other. He was characterized by an extreme ambition and a high level of discipline: Ninja was an tireless grinder who played for hours on end.
Blevins was also an experienced shooter player from his Halo days and had above-average aiming and movement skills. In addition, there was a nervous energy supported by Red Bull. The flaming and tantrums he was known for earlier, he refrained from to fulfill his responsibility towards young viewers.
Back then, Fortnite was structured in such a way that Ninja could log into a lobby with 99 other players, many of whom were just starting out and had no idea about the game: As Ninja mowed down victims one after the other, he looked like a pro and expert. This phase was maximally exploited by Ninja and he was practically always live.
Ninja was also a master at finding synergies: He played in teams with other streamers, supporting each other. Especially the somewhat clumsy streamer “TimTheTatman” was a popular target, whom Ninja teased and made fun of.
Ninja wanted to be untouchable – like David Beckham
What was his plan back then? At the end of 2019, Ninja said in an interview that his goal was to become “untouchable” because he was bothered by the many videos of others circulating about him that portrayed him negatively.
He said back then that he wanted to be like “David Beckham”, simply untouchable. No one made shit videos about him or actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. He wanted to rise to that level as well.
His goal was to build “Ninja” into a globally recognized gaming brand,
The “I’m not seeing enough movement” scene is considered a legendary embarrassing moment
But what really happened next?
Already by the end of 2018 and during 2019, Ninja’s popularity and Fortnite gradually waned:
One first sign that Ninja had overstepped was on New Year’s Eve 2018. Ninja had an appearance in Times Square in New York and called on the crowd in pouring rain to “move.” They were supposed to perform the Fortnite dance “Floss” with him together. However, the crowd didn’t move and Ninja embarrassed himself quite a bit.
To this day, this scene is considered an example of a streamer who overestimated themselves. Ninja has since been teased about the action, even joking about it himself: His team had persuaded him to do it.
Also on Twitch, things didn’t go well after the New Year: In 2019, his average viewer numbers halved, dropping to 42,257.
A younger generation overtakes Ninja in Fortnite – It’s not enough anymore
In 2019, Ninja desperately tried to qualify for the Fortnite World Cup but failed to impose himself against strong competition.
Other, younger players had long since overtaken him and displaced him.
Even among Twitch streamers, there was a younger player named Tfue who was clearly better than Ninja and continually sought the conflict with him.
With the switch to Mixer, the money came, but the viewers left
This was the big break: On August 1, 2019, Ninja left the Twitch platform to stream on Microsoft’s platform Mixer. Allegedly, he was handsomely paid to stream exclusively on Mixer for several years. Microsoft apparently planned to make him the “face” of Mixer and Xbox.
But on the new platform, his viewers dwindled, and Ninja lost significant relevance: hardly anyone was interested in the streamer when he hosted his streams “in exile” on Mixer.
Microsoft’s hope of buying strong attractions like Ninja and shroud from Twitch to establish Mixer as a competitor also failed. Mixer fell far short of Microsoft’s expectations and came to an early end.
However, the switch turned out to be a financial windfall. Because Mixer had to close its doors as early as July 2020 and Ninja was free again to return to Twitch. The short trip, he spent less than a year on Mixer, is said to have brought him 35 million $.
How did it go back on Twitch? Although Ninja was seen back on Twitch afterward, he had to realize that the Fortnite hype and the hype around his persona had long faded.
When he returned to Twitch, his viewer numbers had halved again: Only 20,650 wanted to watch him. In the following years, his viewer numbers continued to decline.
The phenomenon, the huge Fortnite streamer, became in 2021 a successful streamer who reached his target audience, but not much more: In 3 years Ninja lost 88% of his viewers.
Even outside the numbers, Ninja seemed clumsy: Recently, in September 2022, Ninja tried to draw attention to himself with a PR stunt: After his exclusive contract with Twitch expired, he pretended to have a burnout. Ultimately, he only announced that he would now stream on all platforms. However, the whole action barely interested anyone and was commented on pitifully by the now big streamers.
From 1st place to 3,918th
Where does Ninja stand today? Today, Ninja still has the channel on Twitch with the most followers, but that is a record that will likely not last too much longer, as Ninja’s channel is growing, but not as rapidly as before.
The channels of the Spanish streamers auronplay, Rubius, and ibai are getting closer to him. Although at the current pace it might still take 2 to 3 years before someone displaces him from the top of Twitch, it seems to be only a matter of time.
Based on the average viewers last year, Ninja is in 3,918th place among all Twitch streamers with 12,466 viewers.
Attempts to turn his former fame into money have been viewed critically: A “So you can become as great a streamer as I” course received negative reviews.
Ultimately, it must be said that Ninja was financially certainly enormously successful with his decisions and has earned a huge amount of money:
- According to everything that is known, he has long been a multi-millionaire. His fortune is estimated, depending on the source, to be between 25 and 40 million US dollars.
- However, he seems to be far from his dream of being like David Beckham in 2023.
On the contrary: some of his former peers, like TimTheTatman, have long since surpassed him in relevance as a gamer.
When Ninja left Twitch in 2019, young streamers like xQc seized the opportunity to step into the gap he left with a different style. By 2023, xQc is considered the biggest streamer on Twitch – Ninja no longer plays in this league:
Without Ninja and shroud, the TikTok generation is now conquering Twitch
