The streamer Tyler “Ninja” Blevins (29) became an absolute star on Twitch in 2017 and 2018 because he mastered the online shooter Fortnite like hardly anyone else and provided his fans with a fantastic show. Today, he can hardly bear to play Fortnite. He calls the community stupid and threatens to quit the game forever. The reason is stream snipers.
What is Ninja actually doing right now? Ninja had pushed himself to the peak of Twitch in 2017 and 2018, not taking a break and streaming Fortnite incessantly. After 2018, Ninja said: he had hardly lived that year, but was a slave to streaming.
In 2019, Ninja switched to Mixer for a lot of money and took it easy there. When Microsoft pulled the plug on the platform, Ninja came back to Twitch. But he doesn’t work as much as he used to:
- In 2018, Ninja was on air every month between 220 and 300 hours – he had an average of 77,719 viewers with Fortnite
- In January 2021, Ninja was on air for 147 hours on Twitch and had an average of 10,621 viewers – he is now mainly playing Valorant and LoL
Today, Ninja is a brand. He jets to the Super Bowl, sells merchandise, and plans numerous different business ventures.
Why does he want to quit Fortnite? On February 4 and 5, Ninja played Fortnite again after a long time. But his outing quickly soured.
Ninja felt that a “stream sniper” was out to get him. He was in his last 4 games, Ninja said, as he became extremely upset after being eliminated again.
“Fortnite is so hollow – the community is so stupid”
Ninja exploded:
“Get out of my game. Stay away from me. You prove nothing when you enter a game and rush someone who is in a fight and kill them.
The game is so hollow, the community is so stupid. It’s not fun.
These little losers chasing fame don’t get it. They only harm the game because I won’t play it anymore. I won’t stream it anymore and then no one will anymore – I mean, good for you. Get your clips, send them to your friends and then you can say ‘I killed Ninja’ – Man, I haven’t played the game properly in ages and I still kill almost all of you idiots, even though you train 12 hours a day.”
Tyler “Ninja” Blevins
I can even smell stream snipers! Trust me
Are they really stream snipers? A fan then asked Ninja whether those are really stream snipers who are out to get him. They could just be normal players who happen to kill him.
Ninja then snapped at him. The guy should shut up. He has no idea. The stream sniper had been in his game 4 times in a row and either died right in front of Ninja’s eyes or killed him. He doesn’t make this stuff up.
The relevant segment of Ninja’s outburst starts around 3:07 minutes:
Later, Ninja calmed down a bit. He said: Distrust would be justified. Many Twitch streamers complain about stream snipers. You shouldn’t trust them. But fans should definitely trust him. Ninja is never wrong about this.
“Be quietly skeptical. But not towards me! Trust me! I’ve been playing Battle Royale for half a decade. I know what it’s like to be stream sniped. I know the feeling. I can smell them!”
Tyler “Ninja” Blevins
Ninja seems a bit annoyed lately. But he has had many experiences with stream sniping. At the peak of his career, on New Year’s Eve 2018, Ninja streamed his shooter Fortnite at a gigantic event in New York – even then, a stream sniper was after him.
Fortnite: Little boy chases Ninja in front of hundreds of thousands, messes it up
