INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, the biggest streamer ever, has today announced his intention to leave the Twitch platform in favor of
Microsoft’s Mixer.Twitch is far and away the biggest video game streaming platform on the internet, claiming 72% of all hours watched,
according to StreamElements
Mixer, by comparison, owns 3%, which is approximately 112 million viewership hours this most recent quarter.Mixer is owned by Microsoft
following an acquisition in 2016, back when Mixer was called Beam
Interestingly enough, Beam won the Disrupt NY Battlefield competition in 2016.Twitch offered this statement to the Verge:We’ve loved
watching Ninja on Twitch over the years and are proud of all that he’s accomplished for himself and his family, and the gaming community
We wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors.Surprisingly quickly, Twitch took away Ninja’s “Partnered” check mark, the Twitch
equivalent of a verified blue tick.Ninja announced the news via video:The announcement is very light on reasons why Ninja might have moved
from his longtime home at Twitch over to Microsoft
It’s possible (and likely?) that Mixer offered the streaming star an enormous amount of money to make the move, which could signal the
beginning of a new wave of payouts for mega streaming stars — not unlike the current NBA free agency bonanza, which has seen the migration
of superstars to marquee franchises in order to form basketball equivalents of supergroups.It’s also worth wondering who reigns supreme in
this equation: players or platforms? Luckily, we’ll find out quickly as the video game streaming space sees its biggest talent shakeup
since the industry’s inception.
