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Twitch’s ex-goldenboy Tyler “Ninja” Blevins might just be making a return to Twitch sooner than expected. Here’s why
Where do I even start in this mess? From the top, I guess. Back in August of 2019, Ninja dropped one of the biggest gaming announcements of the year in an unprecedented move to leave the platform that assisted his rise to fame
That month, Ninja signed an exclusive multi-year deal to livestream on Mixer. In exchange, Ninja would receive USD$30,000,000. Yes, that’s two commas. While moving platforms isn’t entirely unheard of, for the biggest streamer in the world to do it (or any streamer of that size) was unheard of
The next chapter,https://t.co/lvn9KBjEYq pic.twitter.com/tljVgyM3bG
— Ninja (@Ninja) August 1, 2019
Today, Mixer surprised everyone when Microsoft announced that the platform would be shutting down entirely within one month’s time. Talk about a financial sink for Microsoft! From the looks of things, Mixer partnered up with Facebook Gaming where all of their streamers will be referred to
That puts exclusively signed streamers like Ninja or Shroud in a precarious spot. Once again, the $30m for Ninja was guaranteed and so was Shroud’s $10m. Mixer is forced to honor this contract and pay out the lump sum in the instance that their platform shuts down
Sources: Facebook offered an insane offer at almost double for the original Mixer contracts of Ninja and Shroud but Loaded/Ninja/Shroud said no and forced Mixer to buy them out. Ninja made ~$30M from Mixer, and Shroud made ~$10M
— Rod "4475 SR & Immortal peak" Breslau (@Slasher) June 22, 2020
Ninja and Shroud are now free agents
According to prominent Esports reporter Rod “Shasher” Breslau, Facebook Gaming offered to nearly double the value of Mixer’s contract to Ninja and Shroud - both declining. They opted for the lump sum and are now “streaming free agents” so to speak
This is undeniably a positive for both streamers. They just secured a bag without having to do any work. Ninja was only 8 months into his 6 year contract but got paid for the entire length. If both decide to come back to Twitch, they can uncap their earning potential and reclaim their rightful thrones
But Ninja thinks it’s a harder decision than I’m making it out to be
I love my community and what we built together on Mixer. I have some decisions to make and will be thinking about you all as I make them.
— Ninja (@Ninja) June 22, 2020
In October of last year, Ninja complained that Twitch wasn’t offering him what he needed to expand out of gaming. Could the relationship with Twitch be unrepairable at this point? You’ve got to assume not - given the amount of business Ninja can bring back to Twitch if he does decide to come back
Despite the positives for our mega-streamers, we must also realize that so many small/medium Mixer streamers that might just barely scrape a living are going to struggle hard from this. Mixer really dropped the ball by being so tight-lipped with their community and not giving any advance on their decision
Ninja’s got a lot to think about. Will he reclaim royalty on Twitch or cop another $30 million from Facebook? I wish these were the hard decisions I was faced with (lol)
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