Tyler “Ninja” Blevins is one of the most popular streamers on Twitch. Or at least he was. He announced in a video posted Thursday he’ll be streaming exclusively on Microsoft’s Mixer from now on.
The next chapter,https://t.co/lvn9KBjEYq pic.twitter.com/tljVgyM3bG
Ninja, who rose to superstardom in the last couple of years with the help of Fortnite and Drake, said in the announcement that the move is partly about helping him “get back in touch with my roots.” Still, he’ll be hoping many of the 14.7 million followers he amassed on Twitch will join him in making the switch. Microsoft will surely hope so too, as Mixer hasn’t quite risen to Twitch’s level of popularity.
It’s a major move in the streaming world. Ninja routinely attracted tens of thousands of simultaneous viewers to his Twitch stream, and he broke a number of viewership records on the platform. By many accounts, he’s made millions of dollars through his Twitch exploits and various related endeavors. All those followers and paid subscribers obviously won’t roll over automatically to Mixer though. The financial details of Ninja’s exclusive partnership with Mixer remain unclear.
“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 said in a statement. “My roots as a gamer started with Halo, so working with Microsoft and coming over to Mixer felt like a natural next step. Capturing all the great moments in gaming and sharing in the wins (and losses) with a positive, community-focused environment that we can all be proud of –- that’s why I’m here.”
Ninja’s first stream on his new home will take place from Lollapalooza on Friday, and for a limited time, fans will be able to get free subscriptions that allow ad-free viewing. While he’ll surely rope in a large viewership at the outset, it’ll be interesting to see how many fans will follow him more permanently (and remember to cancel their subscriptions to his Twitch channel). He’ll probably be just fine, though. Just minutes after the announcement, his Mixer follower count is already topping 24,000 and the channel’s had more than 120,000 views.
A little more! pic.twitter.com/SMQEygjNiE
Author: Kris Holt
Source: Engadget
Tags: amazon, entertainment, fortnite, game streaming, gaming, internet, microsoft, mixer, ninja, streaming, twitch
