Ever since Twitch streamer Nina announced he was leaving the Amazon-owned platform in favor of Microsoft’s Mixer streaming service, people have speculated as to the driving factor behind the decision. No doubt money was involved, but there is a sense that Tyler “Ninja” Blevins was motivated by more than that.
While streaming this week, Blevins casually addressed the speculation regarding his windfall for joining Mixer. There is no way to know what was in the Ninja Mixer contract, but some have speculated that it included guarantees of $5 Million+ for each year that Ninja stays on the platform. However, Ninja claims that money was not his motivation for joining Mixer.
In between matches of Fortnite, Ninja pauses to watch a YouTube video that highlights some of the streamer’s best moments on Twitch. Among them is a segment dedicated to Ninja’s Fortnite stream with Drake, which broke numerous records for Twitch and brought a lot of attention to the platform. Abruptly, the video then cuts to a Mixer logo showering Ninja with money, and the streamer stops it.
While Ninja tries to laugh it off it’s clear that the video struck a chord with him. He knows as well as anyone what the perception is around his decision to join Mixer and while he can’t get into specifics, he does try to hint that money was not the incentive.
Considering Ninja’s success on Twitch and sponsorships, it’s easy to see money no longer being an incentive for the streamer to do anything. With estimated earnings in the millions just from subscriptions, Ninja likely has plenty to secure his and his family’s future without worrying about streaming another day. So assuming that he’s already living comfortably, one has to wonder what it was that Mixer offered to convince him to leave Twitch.
The simplest answer is that Mixer wanted Ninja to be the face of its platform, much like he was for Twitch, but only for a time. Streamers like Tfue, Shroud, and Dr. Disrespect were consistently jockeying for prime position at the top of Twitch, but on Mixer no one comes close to Ninja. He is already breaking records for Microsoft’s streaming service – thanks in large part to a free subscription deal – and likely has bigger plans for the future.
Still, there’s no way that Ninja didn’t get paid a large sum of money to uproot his foundation at Twitch and gamble on Mixer. It may not have been the incentive to switch but as a businessman, there’s little doubt Ninja made sure Microsoft secured his financial future.