For most of the average people in the world, playing a bunch of Video Games and tweeting about these games would seem probably worthless, right, but that's not the scenario if you are Tyler Blevins popularly recognized by his stage name Ninja, one of the biggest professional online video game streamers in the world.
Electronic Arts promotional deal
Some time ago, Blevins was approached by the video game maker Electronic Arts to promote their latest creation, "Apex Legends." Along with Ninja, various other professional online video game streamers who had managed to garner huge social media followings were also approached by Electronic Arts for this promotional strategy.
However, Blevins, being the most popular video game player managed to generate such a buzz around the game that it reached a whopping 10 million users in just the first three days of its launch.
The 27-year-old video game streamer who is told apart for his unconventional hair color choices set out promoting “Apex Legends" with a tweet on his Twitter account on February 5 encouraging his followers to play this free game. Soon after the tweet, he streamed himself playing this game on Twitch where he has garnered a following of more than 13 million. For all these actions, he was paid $1 million, as reported by Reuters.
Other than Ninja, Electronic Arts have also paid "Shroud," a popular Canadian online streamer with a following of more than 6 million on Twitch for promoting their new game Apex Legends.
Kevin Knocke, who presently serves as the vice-president at the esports infrastructure firm ReKTGlobal even said that Electronic Arts has done an exceptional job of pulling together some of the world's most influential streamers for this promotional scheme.
The rise of streaming culture
The walloping amount paid to Ninja also highlights a conflict that is currently going on, between the mainstream video game, battle royal genre companies, after Epic Games' introduced Fortnite which has evolved into a sensation practically overnight.
The sum of money paid by the video game maker EA is literally twice what Blevins generally makes in a month streaming other games such as Fortnite if we bring into consideration the figures speculated by the mainstream media.
The EA deal with Ninja also puts forward a point suggesting that opportunities for the teenagers addicted to playing these video games in their bedrooms are available at present more than ever.
As more people are nowadays choosing to watch video games streams online rather than TV, the number of individuals streaming these video games professionally is going to be immensely increased in the approaching months.
If we talk about Ninja, he spends his time playing Fortnite for more than 12 hours a day in his studio located in Chicago and makes well over $500,000 a month, as reported by the major media outlets. A major share of his immense success can also be contributed to his streams with high-profile celebrities including famous rappers Drake and Travis Scott where he can be seen playing video games on the Twitch platform like Fortnite. He has also grabbed sponsorships from companies such as Red Bull and Uber Eats, further, he has even collaborated with great names in Football like Neymar Jr and Harry Kane for his Instagram and Twitter posts.
