World’s most popular streamer loses partnership

Tyler Blevins, also known as Ninja, announced a hiatus in streaming after a Fortnite game didn’t go well. Now he’s suffered a mighty blow.

Tyler ‘Ninja’ Blevins has announced that he is on a break. While this wouldn’t seem like news in and of itself, Ninja’s Twitch account lost its partner status, and Ninja changed his Twitter to be completely blank, removing his profile picture and changing his name.

During a Fortnite stream, Ninja exploded after a player “rifted” away from him to avoid dying — a mechanic that grants players a sort of “get-out-of-jail-free” card. After his opponent “rifted” him, Tyler sat in silence for approximately 30 seconds before quitting the game and launching into a tirade about “rifting.” He ended the rant by stating that he needs to take a break from streaming — and while it’s not likely that the “rifting” mechanic alone was the cause of the anger, it could have been the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back.

Later, after the stream, Ninja removed his profile picture from his Twitter, changed his name to “User Not Found”, and posted that he needs a break. “I don’t know when I will be back, or where,” Ninja stated.

pic.twitter.com/J5E6U2L6W4

— javier. (@javierexoh) September 1, 2022

Ninja is the world’s most popular streamer, with nearly 20 million followers on Twitch. In 2019, Ninja revoked his status as a Twitch streamer to exclusively stream on Microsoft’s “Mixer” platform. While unconfirmed, Microsoft is rumoured to have paid approximately $37 million AUD to pull Ninja away from Twitch. However, in 2020, Mixer shut down and merged with Facebook Gaming, allowing Ninja the ability to choose where he would stream. He eventually made his way back to Twitch.

In addition to the strange and abrupt absence, Ninja’s Twitch account lost Partner status —a status that allows users to monetise their content with the platform. Many are speculating that if Ninja returns, he will take to the only Twitch competitor available: YouTube Gaming. Ninja, however, has not provided any hints or tells regarding his status or platform of choice.

Written by Junior Miyai on behalf of GLHF.