Ninja Jumps Ship To YouTube After Mixer's Shutdown

Popular video gamer and prominent Fortnite livestreamer Tyler "Ninja" Blevins is reportedly in talks with multiple livestreaming services, including YouTube. He has not yet signed a new exclusive deal since his previous home Mixer was shut down by Microsoft. But Ninja streamed Fortnite today on YouTube for the first time, accompanied by a group of other streamers--TimTheTatMan, DrLupo, and Courage--and attracting more than 100,000 concurrent viewers. However, his decision appears to be his and his alone. He hasn't signed anything to lock him down to the platform yet.

"Ninja is currently in negotiations with streaming platforms and no exclusive deal has yet been signed, including YouTube," esports consultant Rod "Slasher" Breslau reported before Ninja's stream started. "Today's YouTube livestream from Ninja is all on his own. Maybe he'll stream on Twitch too." The stream ultimately was only broadcast on YouTube.

Earlier this week, Ninja's wife and manager, Jessica Blevins, tweeted that this week "will be fun." This suggested some kind of announcement may be imminent; that may relate to the YouTube stream above, which marks Ninja's first stream in several weeks. He tweeted in excitement about the stream, but offered no indication of what he's planning to do moving forward.

Ninja left his massive Twitch platform for an exclusive deal with Mixer last year. However, Microsoft recently announced that the livestreaming service would close up shop after July 22, netting him a massive payout and the flexibility to move to either Facebook Gaming (where Microsoft is shifting its efforts) or to regain his freedom to go elsewhere. Where Ninja will go now remains a mystery, but it was spotted earlier this week that Ninja was testing a YouTube stream on his official channel.