Tyler “Ninja” Blevins was the most popular streamer on Twitch before he announced his departure to Microsoft’s Mixer, a platform that ultimately failed to reach the heights that it was supposed to where Blevins was paid in millions to stream.
Microsoft introduced Mixer as a major candidate to dethrone Twitch from the streaming landscape but failed miserably to the point where Microsoft took it down for good. In an attempt to give the platform a headstart, popular streamers from Twitch like Ninja and Shroud were offered contracts in millions to stream exclusively on Mixer.
The money paid to them would certainly make up for the massive hit they took in terms of viewership while streaming on Mixer which was obvious given the fact that it was a freshly minted platform. As explained by many before, Mixer had issues that did not have an immediate resolution that ultimately led to its failure which prompted Shroud and Ninja to find their way back to Twitch.
Ninja was heavily criticized at the time for jumping ships and given the huge sum involved, it did not take long for the community to assume money to be the reason why he jumped ship.
“So, I wanted it to win. It wasn’t like I just signed this big deal and cashed out, I was streaming double my requirements for six months straight and it still didn’t work out. And, it wasn’t for a lack of want.” said Ninja.
As NaDeShot explains, Ninja did put in the effort to replicate the success he enjoyed on Twitch but it just did not hit off as Mixer failed to hold onto users which translated to streamers suffering and eventually Microsoft bailed out on the whole thing.
