Ninja makes a surprise return to YouTube after Microsoft shuts down Mixer

Tyler Blevins, better known in the online gaming community as Ninja, shared a cryptic tweet recently that many believed to hint at some kind of a big announcement around his next major contract with another streaming platform after the surprise closure of Mixer. Instead, the popular streamer entered a new YouTube venture as he went live on the video-sharing platform and started a Fortnite stream alongside Dr Lupo, TimTheTatman, and Courage. He also promised his ardent fans to bring more streams sooner rather than later.

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It is not known if this is some kind of an exclusive deal with YouTube, or if Ninja will actually feature on other online game streaming services, like Twitch, as well. His recent Fortnite gameplay stream was his first-ever on YouTube. You can check out the video here:

While Blevins has promised to make more such videos on YouTube, it doesn’t necessarily indicate a permanent shift to the platform. In fact, Esports consultant Rod Breslau recently revealed that popular streamer is already in negotiations with some streaming services, although an exclusive deal has not been signed yet.

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Ninja is among the biggest streamers right now and is effectively proving his credibility and reach in the world of online gaming. Soon after he went live on YouTube, he was able to attract over 160,000 concurrent viewers. And while the numbers dropped as he went deeper into the gameplay, that’s still a huge number and shows that he still holds plenty of star power in the community.

Ninja’s move from Twitch to Mixer came in August 2019 in an exclusive live-streaming deal that was worth a reported $20-30 million. The massive deal gave rise to a battle for top streaming stars between platforms like Twitch, YouTube, Mixer, and Facebook Gaming. When Microsoft first announced the closure of its video game live streaming platform, it announced a new deal with Facebook Gaming that would allow game streamers to keep their partner status on another platform. Following the move, Ninja and another popular streamer called "Shroud" were reportedly offered contracts by Facebook that were worth almost double their last multimillion-dollar deals with Mixer, however, they are said to have declined the offer.

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Image credits: Ninja Tyler Blevins | Instagram