- Ninja is one of the most popular players and streamers in the gaming world, especially in the Fortnite community.
- Here, we discuss his early years and the reasons behind his meteoric rise to fame in the past decade.
Characteristic
Modified on 04 Jul 2020, 17:01 IST
“/>Richard Tyler Blevins, also known as Ninja, is the most popular name in the Fortnite gaming world. As of today, he has more than 479 million views on Twitch, with 14.7 million followers. This, considering the fact that he was the first in a later series of players to defect to Microsoft’s Mixer platform last year, is even more impressive.
“/>With Mixer’s last day confirmed for July 22, Ninja won’t worry too much about the future of his streaming career. He’s made over a million dollars a month steadily over the past year, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if Twitch brings him back with open arms!
In this article, we look at where it all started; how a cheery American became one of the biggest names in modern games.
Ninja race
At first, playing was a hobby for Ninja, who ranked third in college (Silver Lakes College, 2009 and 2010) and his daily job at a Noodles and Company restaurant. He was the youngest of three siblings, and as a child his favorite games were Halo and Final Fantasy 11, which he played until college.
“/>It was thanks to Halo that he won his first paycheck in games, by winning a local tournament. It was around this time that his YouTube channel began to attract attention and, in late 2010, he was making more than $ 100 a day from his Twitch account.
It was enough for him to go to college, which he did in early 2010. Success began when he started winning competitions everywhere. In 2011, he was seen in Dallas playing Halo: Reach, but his first breakthrough was at the Halo 4 MGL Fall Championships, where his team won, and began to gain worldwide attention.
“/>The next five years were spent winning major contests and winning contracts with teams like Cloud9, Team Liquid, and Renegades. Within two years, he had become a world star with a large following and was seen playing with many celebrities from time to time, including Drake and Travis Scott.
“/>His Twitch channel also saw a surge in popularity, which was due to his witty personality and increased engagement with the audience. This was also around the time he discovered Fortnite (and perhaps vice versa).
Fortnite journey
Ninja’s Twitch channel gained great popularity in 2018, which coincided with Fortnite’s rise in fame. We argue that the two are interrelated. In 2018, Epic Games made over $ 3 billion in revenue, while Ninja made $ 10 million. In June 2018, he partnered with Red Bull eSports for the Fortnite Rise until Dawn event, and regularly aired over ten hours of Fortnite gaming.
“/>In January 2020, Ninja became Fortnite’s first “icon”, and got a custom blue skin that players could wear. In recent years, he has moved on to other games as well, like Apex Legends and H1Z1 Battle Royale, but it’s Fortnite that really made him a world star.
“/>Will Ninja return to Twitch?
As Mixer closes, Ninja and other streamers like Shroud are free to join another platform. As of now, there has been no official confirmation on where Ninja will be headed next. However, this is a question that the entire Fortnite community needs answered, and should be asked soon, as we enter the last month of the Mixer platform!
“/>Posted Jul 04 2020, 5:01 PM IST
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