Microsoft this week shocked the gaming world. The software giant has just signed up the biggest name on "Fortnite." Richard Tyler 'Ninja' Blevins, a livestreamer who gained fame with the rise of the Battle Royale hit "Fortnite." Forbes report that he announced this week that he is leaving Twitch to work full-time and exclusively on Microsoft Mixer.

A popular professional gamer and livestreamer, Tyler is the most followed livestreamer on Twitch with over 14 million followers. Tyler, more commonly known by his online nickname 'Ninja', has one of the biggest channels on the livestreaming platform Twitch.

Tyler’s audience is so big that he could push a game and alter the ranking of the top 10 most viewed on the broadcasting platform, Twitch. That makes Tyler a huge potential target for most popular brands and businesses around the world.

Ninja is leaving Twitch for Microsoft Mixer

Tyler first announced his intention to leave Twitch on his official Twitter account. His first livestream will start on August 2 and continue to broadcast through August 4 from the Red Bull Outpost. Tyler made some explanation about his shocking departure. He said that he wants to achieve bigger goals in the gaming industry with Microsoft Mixer. He explained that his roots as a gamer started with the Bungie-developed "Halo," that’s why working with Microsoft (which owns the game developer Bungie) felt like a next huge step for him.

The Microsoft broadcasting platform doesn’t have the size and reach of the leading broadcasting platform Twitch. Mixer is small and its owner, Microsoft, is still figuring out how to grow its user base.

Mixer is a struggling streaming service that Microsoft had first introduced as Beam in 2016 and later rebranded and launched in 2017. The software giant hopes that the addition of Ninja will provide a huge boost to the struggling platform. The platform currently has a great need for more contents and big streamers.

The news of Tyler’s departure comes just days after the huge "Fortnite" World Finals in New York City, where Tyler competed in two different tournaments and served as a commentator for much of the Fortnite event.

Right now, there still no inside information yet on what the software giant is paying the "Fortnite" star to make this huge move, but given Tyler’s huge gaming profiles (especially his "Fortnite" big days) and what a huge move this is, it has to be millions, according to tech pundits.

Microsoft, once again, is using its formidable resources and deep pockets to get huge people on board. Just like it did before with Nokia when it acquired the hardware firm to get that massive reach and a popular brand name. The company has clearly got the money to buy or chase almost everything in the tech world, from rising startups to competing companies and big streamers.

Twitch streamers react to Ninja’s move

In another article by South East Asia IGN, they confirmed that "Fortnite" star Tyler 'Ninja' Blevins made a huge announcement this week. The gaming streamer announced that he is leaving Twitch to work exclusively with Microsoft Mixer, a Twitch competitor. That news sent shockwaves around the gaming world, creating tons of buzz in the streaming industry. Many Twitch users reacted to Ninja's latest move, his departure from Twitch and the deal with Microsoft.

The initial reaction from Twitch users and Ninja’s followers was that of shock. Tyler is the one biggest streamers on the Twitch platform and was the first streamer to reach 10 million subscribers. Twitter has received a number of posts about Ninja’s departure from Twitch, showing their opinion about the latest move.

Many believe it’s a huge move for the Fortnite streamer, while they felt sad because of the great loss.

Tyler has not yet officially started work on Mixer, so it still unclear how this switch will impact the entire streaming industry. But with one of the gaming world’s biggest streamers exclusively working on the struggling Microsoft Mixer, there will be some big changes coming for sure.
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