Ninja defecting to Mixer is a massive coup for Microsoft and a seismic shock to the streaming industry. It's also a significant blow to Amazon-owned Twitch, where he was arguably the platform's biggest star with over 15 million followers and subscribers likely well into the thousands. He is also one of the few gamers to have mainstream appeal — even appearing an ad for Super Bowl LIII.
Ninja was one of the main attractions at the Fortnite World Cup this past weekend, where he captained a team for the Creative World Cup and joined DJ Marshmello to win $20,000 for charity in the Pro-Am.
Formerly known as Beam, the platform was officially launched in early 2016, and purchased by Microsoft 18 months later. It became part of the Xbox division and was then integrated into Windows 10, before being integrated into the Xbox One platform in March 2017.
Unable to use the name 'Beam' globally, the service rebranded to Mixer on May 25, 2017, and introduced a raft of changes and new features. Since then, it has continued to iterate, and despite aggressively pursuing top streamers to move over from Twitch — with some rumoured to be for fees over $1 million — it has largely struggled to dent its rivals.
Following up his announcement with a second tweet, Ninja said that this move had been in the works for quite a while. "I'm honestly at a loss for words," he said. "I just feel like I'm going to get back to the streaming roots."
"As I look at the next step in my career, achieving bigger goals in the gaming industry with Mixer will allow me to have the perfect balance of opportunities and success. My roots as a gamer started with Halo, so working with Microsoft and coming over to Mixer felt like a natural next step," he said in an official press release.
"Capturing all the great moments in gaming and sharing in the wins (and losses) with a positive, community-focused environment that we can all be proud of – that’s why I’m here,”
That final sentence could be perceived by some as a slight on Twitch and some of the controversies that have surrounded the platform of late.
The press release also states that Ninja will attend "broader gaming events and activations throughout the year in support of Mixer." While nothing further was revealed, it will be interesting to see just how much impact this move has on the streaming industry going forward, and indeed the games industry as a whole.
With significant changes made to Fortnite going into Season X, Patch v10.00 is now live. Check out all the details here!
