Ninja Begins Streaming on YouTube After Ending Contract with Mixer

Tyler "Ninja" Blevins, the most well-known video game personality in the world, hosted his first YouTube stream Wednesday after Mixer announced its decision to shut down in June.

Ninja hasn't signed an exclusive streaming contract with YouTube Gaming, but he went live on the platform to play Fortnite with fellow popular steamers Tim "TimTheTatman" Betar, Ben "DrLupo" Lupo and Jack "CouRageJD" Dunlop:

The quartet played countless games together during Fortnite's rise in 2018, which also skyrocketed Ninja to mainstream stardom.

He set several Twitch records, including an audience of 628,000 viewers while playing alongside rappers Drake and Travis Scott and Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster in 2018, and his 14.8 million followers are still the platform's highest despite him leaving in August 2019.

The 29-year-old Detroit native was named one of Time's 100 most influential people in the world for 2019.

Esports insider Rod "Slasher" Breslau reported Ninja accepted a buyout worth around $30 million when Mixer announced its shutdown last month and became a free agent.

Ninja's first stream on YouTube drew over 130,000 concurrent viewers inside the first hour. He has over 23.8 million subscribers on the platform. CouRageJD also streams on YouTube, while TimTheTatman and DrLupo recently re-signed with Twitch.

It's unclear what other companies are involved in the contract talks. Along with Twitch and YouTube, Facebook has also made an effort to make a play in the streaming game, though Slasher noted the former Halo pro turned down the company's initial offer when it took on Mixer's streamers.

Most recently, Ninja has been testing his mettle in the world of competitive Valorant.