Streamer Tyler “Ninja” Blevins (30) still has the most followers on Twitch thanks to Fortnite . However, in 2019 he switched to the platform Mixer. Now he explains why Microsoft’s streaming platform failed and how happily he experienced its end.
This is the situation:
- Ninja went through the grind of a streamer, streaming countless hours a day for little return until he broke through on Twitch with Fortnite in the fall of 2017.
- Amid the Fortnite hype in 2018, Ninja became the “most famous gamer in the world,” did a record stream with rapper Drake, gained millions of new followers on Twitch, appeared on talk shows and sport magazine covers, and earned over $5 million in top months from the Creator Code in Fortnite.
- However, in 2019, Ninja surprisingly switched to Mixer, where he reached significantly fewer viewers than on Twitch. On July 23, 2020, Microsoft shut down Mixer, and Ninja returned to Twitch.
Mixer had so much potential, failed due to small details
What caused Mixer to fail? In an interview with the e-sports clan 100Thieves, Ninja says Mixer failed due to apparent small details and the immobility of the gigantic corporation Microsoft. Mixer had so much technical prowess. Ninja praises the advantages of the service:
- The “Low Latency” mode was practically instant
- There was no limit on the bit rate, the picture was incredibly clear
- The hype zone was a brilliant idea – it switched to the most exciting moments of a Battle Royale
- The streaming interactions were fantastic
Ninja says:
“They had so much potential: It was the small details, like keeping people on the platform. To create a username, you needed a Microsoft email account. Are you kidding me? And then they gave you a username like on an Xbox Live account. It was totally annoying; then you had to go into the account, completely exit the stream, and change your username so that you wouldn’t be SuperSquare 69.”
Ninja says his two brothers and his wife needed Microsoft’s help just to create an account. That’s just ridiculous.
According to Ninja, the first thing to settle is how to create an account on a platform. This was apparently a weakness of Mixer because Microsoft wanted to pull people into their ecosystem through Mixer.
Additionally, any improvement proposal or change for Mixer had to go through the machinery of the mega-corporation Microsoft, with countless hierarchies and approvals. Therefore, every proposal took forever to really lead to a change.
“Streamed twice as much as stipulated in the contract”
Did Ninja put in effort on Mixer? Ninja says he started on Mixer with full ambition:
- Contractually, he only had to stream 150 hours a month.
- In the first 6 months, he streamed 300 hours.
“I wanted to win. It wasn’t that I just signed the big deal and wanted to cash in. I streamed twice as much as agreed for six months straight, but it still didn’t work. And it wasn’t because I didn’t want to.”
Ninja said audience numbers on Mixer were simply different than before. Only in Fortnite did he still have high viewer counts, and only if he won constantly and everything was going great. Then he would occasionally have 10,000 viewers, which was huge for Mixer standards, but still tiny compared to his time on Twitch.
Ninja has a god as a lawyer who “takes care of him”
Why was he happy about the end? It’s known that Ninja signed a lucrative contract with Mixer for several years. Rumor has it that the contract was supposed to secure him $30 million for 3 to 4 years of streaming on Mixer . When the platform Mixer was dissolved, Ninja’s lawyers negotiated that he would receive the full contract sum that was still due to him:
- Although Ninja was only with Mixer from August 2019 to July 2020, he is said to have received the full contract amount. Ninja confirms this himself.
- According to rumors, he saved 2 to 3 years of work and cashed out $30 million all at once. The exact details of the contract remain open. Ninja simply states that he “got out a year early,” but doesn’t elaborate further. So perhaps he was only obligated to Mixer for two years exclusively.
When asked if he knew beforehand that he would receive the full contract sum or whether he had to spend a lot of time with his lawyers, Ninja smiles and says, “We have the best lawyers in the world.”
He learned of Mixer’s end about 72 hours before everyone else. But he had so much trust in his lawyers that he was sure they would “take care of them.” Ninja grins while calling his lawyer a god.
Ultimately, he says, they celebrated the end of Mixer. When someone tells you that you can get out of a deal early and still receive all the money, that’s certainly a reason for a celebration in the “Blevins” household.
Regarding how he experienced the end, Ninja says:
“It was a celebration of the moment, but hey. Oh my god – I switched platforms and had 100% good intentions. It was for the industry, it was of course lucrative and … I got out earlier.”
What’s behind this: It is still unclear how much exactly Ninja received in one go with the end of Mixer. For neither the contract amount nor the duration of the exclusivity contract is known.
But when Ninja talks about the subject, he can hardly stop grinning.
He knows that he probably made the deal of his life: He received the full amount without having to spend the full time “in exile” away from Twitch.
The ultra-ambitious Ninja was frustrated by the low viewer numbers on Mixer and made every day on the platform a well-paid workday, but it still wore on his nerves and affected his ego.
Ultimately, Ninja celebrated the end of Mixer. Many other streamers who built a channel on Mixer still mourn the end of the platform to this day:
While Ninja and shroud are cashing in, small Mixer streamers are completely finished
