Ninja’ed: Microsoft swipes top game-streamer from Amazon’s Twitch

Tyler "Ninja" Blevins sends his love to Microsoft's Mixer. (credit: Mixer / Ninja)

Over the past three years, Microsoft has been relatively quiet about growing Mixer, the game-streaming site it acquired in 2016. All that changed on Thursday when the site announced a move that might finally turn the tide in its direction: the site's first major talent acquisition.

Effective immediately, Tyler "Ninja" Blevins-arguably the most "household" name in the game-streaming universe-will stream his gameplay of popular shooters like Fortnite exclusively on Mixer. That means Blevins has left the West's largest game-streaming service, Amazon's Twitch.tv, after more than eight years on that site.

While at Twitch, Blevins racked up some of the site's biggest simultaneous viewership numbers. That includes an explosion of activity after he hosted a surprise streaming session in March 2018 with musicians such as hip-hop phenom Drake. His Twitch run ends with a "follower" count of over 14 million, along with a continued run in the site's top-20 ranks in terms of simultaneous viewers and number of viewer hours accrued. However, Ninja's prior reign as Twitch's number-one streamer has faded in recent months, all while he continues to rack up endorsement deals and promote a series of upcoming books.

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