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Tyler "Ninja" Blevins, arguably the most famous streamer in the world, may start streaming on YouTube Gaming after Microsoft shut down Mixer earlier last week according to a leaked screenshot. Ninja moved to Mixer earlier in 2019, reportedly due to contract conflicts with Amazon’s Twitch.
Edit (08th July 2020, 11:15 PM IST):
Esports and Gaming insider Rod "Slasher" Breslau has stated that "Ninja is currently in negotiations with streaming platforms and no exclusive deal has yet been signed, including YouTube".
Leaked Screenshot Indicating that Ninja Might Have Moved to YouTube
Earlier today, a test stream briefly went live on Ninja’s YouTube channel. It was quickly deleted, but a screenshot of this was captured by Fortnite leaker HYPEX on Twitter. This indicates that he intends to stream on YouTube Gaming in the near future, which in turn alludes that Ninja has shifted to this platform.
HYPEX stated that this was probably not meant to be revealed to the public, however, considering the circumstances, this is a huge hint.
Earlier on Tuesday, Ninja’s manager and wife – tweeted “You’ve all been patient… this week will be fun” indicating that an announcement would be made later this week.
It seems like this might have been the announcement she mentioned.
Ninja’s Journey Through Twitch and Mixer
On 1st August 2019, Ninja left Amazon’s Twitch and joined Microsoft’s Mixer. It was later revealed in an interview with Business Insider, that Ninja left Twitch due to contractual disputes.
"With the wording of how that contract was going, he wouldn't have been able to grow his brand much outside of gaming. There were already conflicts with his current sponsors and resigning with that platform. And we were like, 'Straight up, guys, we've worked so, so hard to grow the Ninja brand to license things and get his name out there. We can't go backwards with it.' So that's where that deal just really started not making sense."
Ninja was by far the biggest streamer on Mixer boasting over 2.3 Million subscribers. However, Mixer as a platform lagged behind Twitch, YouTube Gaming, and Facebook Live in terms of viewership.
Mixer shut down on 23rd June 2020 and merged with Facebook Gaming. Mixer reportedly paid out $30 Million USD to Ninja to end his contract. Following this Ninja Tweeted that he had “some decisions to make” and that he will be thinking about his Mixer community as he makes them.
YouTube recently signed PewDiePie on an exclusive streaming deal. The platform has steadily been increasing its viewership in 2020. If they sign Ninja, expect this figure to rise by a significant margin.
AFK Gaming has reached out to Ninja for comments on this matter, but has not received a response at the time of writing.
