In this day and age, gaming is more than a pastime. Professional gamers and streamers can make millions of dollars if they play their cards right. Tyler “Ninja” Blevins is a gamer among gamers who has amassed an impressive net worth and made himself an international phenomenon playing Fortnite, a free-to-play battle royale shooter with building mechanics.
Ninja actually started his gaming career as a professional Halo player for organizations such as Cloud9, Team Liquid, and Luminosity Gaming. Ninja's retirement from Halo in 2017 was actually the beginning of better days for him. Ninja then started streaming full-time in late 2017, but it was in 2018 when he got his big break on Twitch and started to really rake in the dough to amass an impressive net worth.
Ninja's net worth in 2020 (estimate): $20 million
Ninja started smashing Twitch viewing records and amassing millions of followers streaming Fortnight, which helped propel him to legendary gaming heights. His followers on Twitch grew from 500,000 in September 2017 to over 2 million by March 2018. His viral presence on the internet and his infectious energy has helped build his impressive net worth, which takes into account his public streaming revenue, YouTube income, merchandise, and various sponsorship deals. Not bad for someone who mostly just sits around and plays games all day, huh?
There's some reason to believe that Ninja is worth even more than $20 million. Forbes reported that Ninja made $17 million in 2019 alone. After all, Ninja is a professional with endorsement deals with Adidas and Red Bull.
It was also in 2019 when Ninja shocked the world and left Twitch for Microsoft's new streaming platform Mixer. It was widely speculated that this move was incentivized by a hefty paycheck worth millions from Microsoft. It was unfathomable for many in the gaming community as to why Ninja would leave Twitch when could make $500,000 a year from from subscribers alone.
In the end, Microsoft's gamble with Mixer would not pay off, as the company announced that the service would shut down on July 22, 2020. Ninja is streaming on YouTube after this debacle, but perhaps he'll return to Twitch at some point.
While Ninja is rolling in the dough now, it wasn't always smooth sailing. Before dabbling in gaming, he actually worked at a Noodles & Company restaurant before taking a leap of faith. He then spent six years playing Halo professionally during the 2010s. Back then, the money in the industry was a far cry from the lucrative deals that gamers and streamers can get today. Ninja said in an interview with CNBC in 2018 that his ultimate goal growing up was to be able to play as many games as he wants.
Well, Ninja definitely achieved just that.
Ninja is so popular that mainstream celebrities want to play or associate with him on his channel. In 2018, he streamed Fortnite alongside NFL player JuJu Smith-Schuster and rappers Drake and Travis Scott. Later that year he even got Tottenham Hotspur players Harry Kane, Dele Alli, and Kieran Trippier (who now plays for Atletico Madrid) for another star-studded stream squad. He has even guested on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” teaching the host a popular dance during the appearance:
Epic Games, the publisher of Fortnite, has even acknowledged Ninja and his influence by making him a playable character in the game. Oh, and of course you can't have Ninja in the game without his signature Pon Pon dance.
Throughout the years, the 29-year-old has widened his streaming repertoire to other shooting games such as Valorant, Apex Legends, and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. His entertainment value as a streamer is highly associated with his flamboyance and his pure mechanical skill in gaming.
On top of his streaming, Ninja also has an official line of Ninja merchandise. The merchandise includes clothing, bed sheets, and his signature headband. He also published a book called “Ninja: Get Good: My Ultimate Guide to Gaming” in August 2019.
With his worldwide popularity, Ninja will continue to keep the good times rolling for many years to come, and his net worth should only continue to soar.
Follow Us
Subscribe