Ninja bites back at claims he used Mixer to “cash out” from streaming

Streaming star Tyler ‘Ninja’ Blevins says his move to Mixer wasn’t just a case of him “cashing out” as he tried to make it work right up until the plug was pulled on the streaming platform.

In August of 2019, Ninja stunned the streaming world when he decided to jump ship from Twitch and sign with Microsoft’s Mixer platform. He was quickly joined by Shroud and other streamers as Mixer tried to battle against Twitch, YouTube, and the burgeoning Facebook Gaming.

The move lasted just under a year before Microsoft pulled the plug on Mixer, giving streamers the chance to move to Facebook as a part of a new partnership.

While some streamers took that move, both Ninja and Shroud became free agents but had their extremely lucrative contracts paid up. Despite them both returning to Twitch, Ninja has never hit the same heights as before his exit, with his viewership way down ever since.

The streaming superstar has faced plenty of criticism for making the move in the first place, especially regarding the money side of things. Though, he maintains that he was doing it for the betterment of the streaming landscape as a whole.

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Speaking on the Courage and Nadeshot podcast, Ninja lamented the opportunity Mixer had but missed on, and again shut down criticism of him being paid so handsomely for the move. “Bro, I was streaming double the hours I was supposed to. It was like a 150-hour requirement, I think, for a month and I was doing 300, easy,” Blevins said.

“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.”

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As he has done previously, Ninja noted that Mixer had a tough time retaining viewers which ultimately led to its downfall.

While his move ultimately didn’t pan out as planned, it has paved the way for other top streamers to get similar deals with other platforms, with quite a few swapping Twitch for YouTube recently.