Ninja returns to Twitch
Twitch has just announced a multi-year exclusivity deal with pro-gamer and streaming star Tyler “Ninja” Blevins. He held his first live stream in over a year for the platform yesterday, playing Valorant, Fall Guys, and the indie party game Among US.
This is a big change for Blevins who, just last year, left Twitch and signed an exclusive deal with the Microsoft owned Mixer. Mixer shut down at the end of June and was absorbed by Facebook Gaming. Blevins walked away from the closure and briefly streamed on YouTube.
See also: Ninja Net Worth
A site to call home
Without a permanent site to stream from, many fans were speculating about where Blevins would end up, and in his announcement, he made it clear that it was a hard decision.
“I really took my time to decide which platform was best and Twitch has been very supportive throughout this process and understanding my overall career goals. In this next chapter, I’m going to make it a point to elevate and bring more eyes to underrepresented creators. I am looking forward to working with Twitch to demonstrate how this amazing community of gamers can make a meaningful impact.”
Prior to his contract with Mixer, Blevins was the one of the most popular and highly paid personalities on Twitch, his channel still has over 15 million followers and his livestream back at the platform had over 100,000 concurrent viewers.
Ninja looks to the future
Blevins has committed to an exclusive streaming deal with Twitch but that is not likely all he will do. He is well known all over the world and has deals with Walmart, Adidas, and his own unique skin in Fortnite.
Reacquiring Ninja is a major win for the streaming platform and the senior VP of content, Michael Aragon, had this to say about the new deal:
“Tyler is an iconic force in the gaming community, and it’s been amazing to see the impact he’s made on the industry and broader culture, Gaming and the people who love it are being recognized by a broad mainstream audience now in part because of Tyler, and we know he’s just getting started.”
Blevins announced his return to Twitch with a post on Twitter.