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Remember Ninja? That guy who was really popular for streaming this game called Fortnite? There was a time when Tyler "Ninja" Blevins was the one and all of video game streaming, consistently breaking concurrent viewership records on Twitch. His massive following, coupled with some controversial moments, constantly kept him in the spotlight. These days however, the streamer doesn't enjoy the same clout he once did, but according to a recent interview, he's fine with it.
“No one’s gonna stay on top forever, especially when it comes to live-streaming; there’s always somebody new and🦂 hot,” Ninja told . “I have no intention of being that guy anymore. I know I’m not going to pull 100,000 viewers on [Twitch] anymore. I don’t have time to do that. I have a wife, I have a family.”
His more recent streams manage to garner about 10,000 to 15,000 concurrent viewers, but he insists that it's not about the numbers for him anymore. "[Fans] are focusing on what they can see in front of them, which is numbers and ‘Ninja isn’t getting 100,000 viewers anymore,’ but what they don’t see is everything we created while we were massive and [the] global recognition we have that’s bigger than just streaming on Twitch,” he said.
He also spoke about burnout, how the new crop of streamers have been impressive, and what's in store for the future. He did try to explore non-gaming related streams, but didn't quite feel that was his place. There has been a rise in non-gaming related streamers who have become massively popular, but Blevins felt that it wasn't quite his thing and perhaps even the reason why he isn't as popular as he once was.
“Literally that’s the reason I’m kind of stuck, or where I’m at right now,” he said. “I love gaming, and I’m always gonna love gaming. I don’t want to 🐼be a react streamer where I sit and watch videos for eight hours. I start my stream, and I’m immediately in a game. Stream goes live, intro’s out and I’m queued up. I’m playing. That’s all I want to do.”