Ninja, one of the most popular livestreamers in the world, continues to have no streaming platform to call home. Ever since Mixer, the Microsoft-owned streaming service that held a contract with Ninja, announced its closure, Ninja has been waiting. Fans have assumed Ninja was negotiating a new contract with a different platform, but have received no updates. Now Ninja has said something publically. It's nothing official, but it clarifies Ninja's current attitude towards streaming.
In a tweet posted on Saturday, Ninja replied to a fan hoping that their favorite streamer would be back broadcasting soon. The fan's Twitter message ends saying, "please start streaming again." Ninja's reply is short but succinct, saying, "I want to ASAP man." Suffice to say it's safe to assume that Ninja's desire to stream isn't what's holding him back from streaming. Rather, there must be something else going on that's preventing a top streamer like Ninja from streaming full-time right now.
The assumption that fans can likely make is that Ninja is still in the middle of contract negotiations. Being mid-negotiations means he can't actually discuss when he'll start streaming or what platform it'll be on in specifics. He may or may not even know those details yet. As much as Ninja may not want to stream as soon as possible, his popularity requires that a robust contract be in place to cover all manner of legal issues.
Speculation regarding Ninja's plans points to him considering both Twitch and Youtube as potential homes for his channel. Ninja did two streams in the relatively near past, one on each of those platforms. These could have been demo sessions used to help with negotiations. That so much time has passed since heavily implies that the negotiations must be quite the affair, though. Given how much Mixer was said to have paid Ninja for exclusivity rights, that's not surprising.
Still, when other Mixer-exclusive streamers like Shroud have already found new homes, it's still surprising that Ninja hasn't. After all, Ninja and others all received lump sums for the amount remaining on their Mixer contracts. They were effectively paid for work they'll never have to do. Signing a new contract will be like earning pay from two separate contracts at the same time. When it comes to business, though, Ninja and his wife probably don't think like that. Getting a big contract is important to maintaining Ninja's brand value, after all.
The reality of the situation is that Ninja will be streaming before too long. Negotiations can only go on for so long before someone has to make a compromise, and it probably eases negotiations for all sides having Ninja make clear that he wants to get back to streaming soon.