Streamer Ninja, whose real name is Tyler Blevins, is ditching Twitch for rival streaming platform Mixer. The super-popular streamer announced the news in a fake press conference video today.
He stated that nothing will change in terms of content. "It's the same me, just a different platform," he said. Intriguingly, Ninja also said he plans to "get back in touch with my roots" as it relates to streaming. That's noteworthy because Ninja started out as a popular Halo streamer before going on newer titles; he is most recently famous for streaming Fornite. Microsoft's next Halo game, Halo Infinite, launches in Holiday 2020.
Master Chief even makes an appearance in the announcement video, which further suggests Ninja coming to Mixer may be related to Halo and specifically helping to promote Halo Infinite.
The next chapter,https://t.co/lvn9KBjEYq pic.twitter.com/tljVgyM3bG
— Ninja (@Ninja) August 1, 2019
A little more! pic.twitter.com/SMQEygjNiE
— Ninja (@Ninja) August 1, 2019
Who's that hanging in the back? pic.twitter.com/rIPscpHLti
— Tashi (@Tashi343i) August 1, 2019
Ninja was far and away the most-followed Twitch user, with some 14.7 million followers. Microsoft is surely hoping that a portion of Ninja's audience moves with him to Mixer. Ninja's Mixer page is already incredibly popular, picking up 100,000+ subscribers in its first day.
Ninja is offering free subscriptions in August; that gets you 22 Ninja-themed emoticons and no ads. Just like on Twitch, Ninja said he plans to stream from 9:30 AM CST to 6 PM CST every single day.
Microsoft's signing of Ninja comes not long after the company laid off content creators and producers at Mixer and Insider Xbox, according to GameDaily.
Mixer, which was formerly known as Beam, was acquired by Microsoft, distinguishes itself from Twitch with its emphasis on real-time viewer interaction. In 2018, Mixer introduced the ability to buy games directly from streamers (Twitch has this option as well).