Tyler 'Ninja' Blevins recently announced his departure from Twitch.tv and his partnership with Mixer.com. Undoubtedly one of Twitch's largest content creators and a pioneer for mainstream collaborations with the platform, Ninja stated in a twitter video he's "been holding on to this for quite some time and I'm just super excited to let everyone know". The terms of the agreement between Tyler and Microsoft (the parent company of the streaming platform Mixer) are still unknown, however Ninja assures his viewers in a faux-pas interview "It's the same me, just a different platform" so expect the same sort of content in the days to come.
What does this mean for Twitch? Twitch's inability to retain Ninja as a streamer shows a drastic lapse in judgement regarding the scale and impact that he had on their site, being undoubtedly the biggest individual brand on their platform. This is nothing short of a win for Mixer, despite the possible tens of millions they spent on acquisition given that this has resulted in over 100,000 users claiming their free subscription as part of their partnership and over 270,000 followers before he has gone live.
Tyler, despite his colossal success in Battle-Royales such as H1Z1, PUBG and Fortnite, begun his competitive career in an MLG Orlando Halo 3 event in 2009 with the team Four of a Kind. Which raises the question, What does this mean for the future of Halo?
With the release of both Halo Infinite and Halo: The Master Chief Collection on PC in the visible future, this could be just the marketing miracle the franchise needs to return to the Esports scene alongside its long-time rival Call of Duty. It's safe to say if Microsoft decide to promote both Mixer and Halo with such heavy monetary and time investment, it's a bright future for the two communities.
Who would you like to see join the Mixer platform and stream alongside Ninja? Be sure to let us know!