With over 22 million subscribers on YouTube, and millions of people watching his stream, Tyler “Ninja” Blevins has become the most famous gamer in the world. Ninja has officially announced that he will be leaving the Twitch platform to stream exclusively on Mixer.
Mixer is a streaming platform owned by Microsoft. The platform was launched as “Beam” back in 2016, and later rebranded to “Mixer” in 2017.
The announcement came Thursday on Ninja’s Twitter page:
“I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunities Twitch has provided me,” Blevins told The Associated Press, “but as I looked at the next step in my career, I wanted to be somewhere that empowered me to push the boundaries of gaming and achieve bigger goals within the industry. Mixer provides me with more ways to connect with my community.”
Ninja was one of the top trending accounts on Twitter following the announcement. Within only a few hours, Ninja’s Mixer account had surpassed 100,000.
Blevins has become the most recognized Fortnite player in the world with over 14 million followers on Twitch. He hosted several esports events, including the fortnite event featuring Drake and Travis Scott from the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The first appearance on the Mixer platform will take place at Lollapalooza, a four-day music festival in Chicago. The event will also feature Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf, the winner of the Fornite World Cup.
“I want my friends to make their own decisions for what platforms they choose to play on,” Blevins said. “With that being said, I will welcome anyone with open arms who wants to join me.”
According to Twitch, “We’ve loved watching Ninja on Twitch over the years and are proud of all that he’s accomplished for himself and his family, and the gaming community. We wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors.”
According to Mixer, “We’re thrilled to welcome Ninja and his community to Mixer. Mixer is a place that was formed around being positive and welcoming from day one, and we look forward to the energy Ninja and his community will bring.”
Ninja’s inaugural Mixer stream is set for 1 p.m Eastern time on Friday, and will run from 8:30 a.m to 5 p.m. Eastern time. The Mixer platform is seeking to capitalize on Ninja’s fame by offering free subscriptions and Ninja emoticons for the month of August.
Mixer allows users to co-stream with up to three friends, and the ability to share their controllers with viewers of the stream.
