Ninja Signs Exclusive Multiyear Deal To Come Home To Twitch

Tyler “Ninja” Blevins is officially back on Twitch after signing a multiyear deal to stream exclusively on the platform.

It marks a tumultuous return to the platform Blevins left last August for a seven-figure exclusive deal with Microsoft’s Mixer. At that point, Ninja was supposed to headline the streamers on Mixer to challenge Twitch and YouTube’s dominance.

Instead, Microsoft shuttered Mixer at the end of June and the company directed its audience to move to Facebook Gaming. Blevins walked away from that situation in significantly better shape than his fellow Mixer streamers save for Michael “Shroud” Grzesiek.

For his part, Grezesiek also returned to Amazon-owned Twitch exclusively in August.

With 15 million followers on Twitch and over 24 million subscribers on YouTube, it is not a stretch to say that Blevins is probably the most recognizable face in game streaming. He has, after all, got an exclusive shoe deal with Adidas and has his merchandise sold at places like Walmart, The Verge notes.

Ninja first made a name for himself as a streamer of “Fortnite” and has seen his fame and marketability grow exponentially, mostly thanks to his initial run on Twitch. Blevins even has his own skin on ‘Fortnite’ these days.

"I am excited to get back to streaming full-time and connecting with my loyal fanbase," Blevins said in a statement. "I really took my time to decide which platform was best and Twitch has been 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," he said.

When Mixer shut down, questions were raised about where Ninja could take his gaming abilities next. He teased a move to YouTube in July that immediately drew 100,000 views on his first livestream but no subsequent news was made regarding any contract negotiations of any kind.

With this Twitch homecoming, Ninja will more than likely top the Twitch charts once again in no time.