After a short break, Tyler “Ninja” Blevins — a popular gamer who has been linked to popularizing esports and gaming — began streaming again this week.
Ninja had previously streamed on the service Mixer, which is owned by Microsoft. When an announcement came in June that that Mixer would be shutting down, Ninja became a free agent.
He made his return to streaming with a “Fortnite” livestream Wednesday night on YouTube. Ninja had over 160,000 concurrent viewers. There was no contract involved in the stream, it was his own doing, according to Engadget.
During his stream, he had promised fans that there would be more streams to come” sooner rather than later, according to the New York Times.
Known for being one of the most well-known and best “Fortnite” players, Ninja has gained an impressive online following and attention from the major gaming brands.
The New York Times reported that in previous interviews, Ninja has said “he would like to be as well known as the basketball star LeBron James.”
Since Wednesday, Ninja’s “Fortnite” video has over 3 million views. And his YouTube channel has nearly 24 million subscribers and 2.2 billion views.
Ninja is currently looking to make a deal with a streaming platform. according to reports. There is talk of negation between Ninja and YouTube and possibly Twitch to sign a contract.
A spokeswoman for YouTube, Talia Yates, said, “We welcome any content from him,” adding that they would work with him to increase his content on YouTube.
However, she mentioned nothing about making a deal.
According to Forbes, Ninja is likely to make a deal with YouTube, Twitch, or Facebook.