Here’s the situation:

• In 2016, Twitch streamer Tyler “Ninja” Blevins was still one of many shooter streamers floating around Twitch’s midfield. Blevins averaged about 1,300 viewers and regularly threw tantrums and flame fits: He had made a name for himself as an e-sports pro in Halo and was now playing hot online shooters like PUBG
• But at the end of 2017, Ninja’s breakthrough came with Fortnite: The streamed Epic’s gaudy shooter like a maniac and suddenly amassed millions of followers. Ninja pushed into new dimensions on Twitch, was invited on talk shows and grinned from the cover of a sports magazine. In 2018, he reached 78,000 viewers on average and was online practically all the time. That year, he ripped off 2,767 hours in Fortnite. Later, Ninja said: He had not lived during that time, was a slave to the stream
• In 2022, those glory days are long gone, Ninja is now back to being a “normal streamer” with 10,000 viewers on average, albeit one with the absurd number of 18.3 million followers – even today, those are dimensions no other streamer has ever reached

“I’m so fed up – I can’t take it anymore”.

This is the 59 seconds where Ninja throws it all down:

• Ninja is playing a normal round of Fortnite and has just gotten a kill, his duo partner, Sypher, asks him something, but Ninja doesn’t respond at all anymore
• Sypher asks, “Ninja?” but the streamer coughs, laughs, and says, “I can’t take it anymore, buddy – I’m sick of this.”
• Ninja then says he’s had enough of gamers, of all this stuff. He needs a break from streaming. He still tells the chat he doesn’t know when he’ll be back on the air. He needs to get out of here. Then he quits Fortnite and the stream, is just gone.

Ninja apparently throws it all in: no more Twitch partner

What happened after that? Ninja has since stopped streaming and crippled his social media channels by deleting the profile picture and replacing his name with “User Not Found.”

He is also no longer a Twitch partner.

What’s behind it? There are two possibilities:

• Ninja actually had a “burnout” moment and really threw it all away
• He just simulated this “breakdown” as a PR stunt because he wants to draw attention to himself to make a big announcement

The strange thing is that he announced the stream by saying “big things are coming”.

Cynical PR stunt or honest performance?

What’s the case for each option? It happens that streamers suffer from “burnout” and take breaks. The structure of Twitch encourages self-exploitation with the hunt for subscribers, the fear of falling off, and the constant comparison with competitors. It’s stressful and exhausting.

And Ninja being fed up with playing Fortnite is plausible:

• Ninja has played the game Fortnite on Twitch for 471 hours in the last 180 days – almost nothing else. That’s a lot less time than he ripped off for his wedding, but he’s become a typical “one game” streamer again
• Before the last six months, Ninja had been playing League of Legends, Apex Legends or Final Fantasy XI extensively – he has since abandoned all of that and is fully dedicated to Fortnite again.
• This could already speak for the fact that he simply can’t stand Fortnite anymore

So the fact that Ninja needs a break is plausible. But usually streamers announce such breaks “quietly” on Twitter and not during a stream.

Also, Ninja came back to Twitch about 2 years ago, after his foray on Mixer. “Two years” is also the typical length of a Twitch contract.

So it would be quite possible that Twitch’s exclusive contract with Ninja has expired and that he is now announcing another switch.

What’s your take on this? We have created a poll on MeinMMO where you can give your opinion on the situation. You have one vote in the poll.

Write us your opinion in the comments. Was the situation played or do you think Ninja is really burnt out?

Actually, “streamer burnout” is widespread. It would be quite cynical if Ninja simulates this real problem here to get attention:

Twitch eats its children – A German streamer says “It breaks me”.