Richard Tyler Blevins, better known as Ninja, is one of the world’s most well-known pro-gamers. The Twitch streaming sensation is constantly breaking records and has more than 16 million followers. Here is the real Ninja’s net worth and the story behind his gaming empire.
Ninja said, “I continued to do well in school and focus on the future of my life. It was one of those things where if I was doing well in school, putting in the time and effort there, and soccer as well, that I would be rewarded to play as many games as I want. I maintained my job that I was working at Noodles & Company and I stayed in college while I was doing all of these things.”
Ninja began live-streaming his games in 2011. The Halo 3 player recognised that he could make gaming his full-time business as his success developed and he began to get sponsored. He began his career as a player for numerous well-known esports organisations, including Cloud9, Renegades, and Team Liquid. In 2017, he joined Luminosity Gaming.
He began streaming the freshly released online multiplayer game Fortnite around the same time. This resulted in a significant increase in Twitch followers.
But it wasn’t until he played Fortnite alongside rapper Drake in 2018 that Ninja finally cemented his superstar gaming status. That stream (which also featured rapper Travis Scott and NFL player JuJu Smith-Schuster) set a Twitch record for the greatest concurrent audience for an individual non-tournament stream with 635,000 viewers.
Ninja said when Drake announced the live on social media, “I’m like 99.9 percent positive we’re about to smash Twitch.”
Contributed to the success of ‘Fortnite’
Ninja is considered to have a big hand in shaping the growing esports streaming business. He is regarded as one of the first full-time celebrity gamers, and in 2019, he was named to Time magazine’s list of the 100 most important people.
Ninja has also played a significant role in increasing the popularity of Fortnite, which is currently hugely popular, thanks to his session with Drake and other successful streams.
In fact, Fortnite creator Epic Games awarded Ninja his own skin as a thank you for all of his dedication to the game.
In a 2020 video, he remarked, “It looks exactly like me! I’m just extremely happy about this, and I can’t wait to share it with you guys. Anything is feasible if you put in the time and effort. That is simply the truth.”
Electronic Arts hired Ninja to market its 2019 release, Apex Legends, in an attempt to repeat the massive popularity of Fortnite. The strategy was successful. Within the first few hours of its release, the free-to-play game received over 10 million signups.
Ninja apparently received a whopping $1 million for preaching Apex Legends.
Ninja’s net worth is $25 million
So, how much money does Ninja have? According to CelebrityNetWorth.com, his net worth is $25 million. In addition to his Twitch revenue, this figure includes money from his brief stint on the now-defunct platform Mixer, as well as his YouTube channel streams, where he supposedly earns $500,000 each month.
Ninja’s net worth has also been boosted by numerous lucrative sponsorship deals. His collaborations with well-known brands include Red Bull, Uber Eats, Adidas, and Walmart. In 2019, he appeared in a Super Bowl commercial with Peyton Manning and Michael Strahan. He also published Get Good: My Ultimate Guide to Gaming, a book full of tips and strategies for aspiring online gamers.
As for what has propelled this breakout gamer to such acclaim, Ninja attributes much of his success to years of hard effort, patience, and mastery of his trade.
He remarked in 2018, “I’ve been doing streaming in general for a long time. I know how to put on a good show, and being a top player is always a fantastic approach to attract fans. Something about people stating you’re the best merely makes more people say, ‘Who?’ They then go and observe. It’s just a chain reaction.”
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