Ninja, the world's most popular gamer, makes $500,000 every month playing 'Fortnite' — here's how he does it
In interviews with CNBC and CNN, Blevins confirmed he earned more than $500,000 a month from his more than 160,000 paid Twitch subscribers, which are separate from his 12 million followers on the same platform.
On Twitch, streamers net $2.50 for every subscription, which costs the viewer $5 a month and gets them exclusive emotes and badges while allowing them to view the stream without ads. Meanwhile, simply following a streamer is free, but doesn't come with any perks. Viewers can leave "tips" and donations for streamers while they broadcast, though, and Ninja says he once received a $40,000 donation.
Ninja now streams on Microsoft's Mixer, which charges viewers $6 for a similar subscription service. Ninja also earns YouTube ad revenue from his 22 million subscribers and he gets paid for sponsorship deals.
With millions of viewers pouring in daily, Ninja has an audience that is the envy of broadcasters and advertisers alike. Ninja has formed partnerships with a variety of companies including Red Bull, Uber Eats, and NZXT. While some of the deals are straightforward, like his unique discount codes on Uber Eats, others come with added perks.
In October, Red Bull helped Ninja build a state-of-the-art streaming studio in his basement. In addition to installing more than $20,000 in broadcast equipment, the studio was custom made to fit Ninja's growing personal brand.
Ninja's brand has also been boosted by appearances on popular TV shows like "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon," "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," and ESPN's "E:60." He became the first professional gamer to grace the cover of "ESPN the Magazine" in October 2018.
—ESPN (@espn) September 18, 2018
Ninja's success is intertwined with the ongoing popularity of "Fortnite: Battle Royale," a shooter game in which a hundred online players are dropped onto an island where they mine for materials, build structures, find supplies, and kill each other until a single player is left standing, similar to the dystopian arena game described in the "The Hunger Games" books and movies.
It stands as the most-watched game on Twitch by a lot, and "Fortnite" creator Epic Games reports that the game has seen 250 million players worldwide. While packages with the full version of "Fortnite" start at $39.99, the "Battle Royale" game mode is free to play on PC, Mac, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and mobile (both iOS and Android).
On March 14, 2018, Drake joined Ninja for a "Fortnite" stream late at night, and the two broke Twitch's record for the most concurrent viewers of all time, partly thanks to Drake's advertising the marathon to his 36.9 million Twitter followers.
—Drizzy (@Drake) March 15, 2018
During the hours-long session, Ninja implied that it had been Drake who actually initiated the team-up.
While the two ran through the virtual island looking for weapons, Drake said he had recently been playing "Fortnite" in the recording studio during his breaks, had seen a video of Ninja playing on Instagram, and later watched more of his content on YouTube.
"I am 99.9% sure we are about to break Twitch," Ninja said shortly after, pointing out the number of their concurrent viewers had surpassed the previous non-tournament record of 388,000, held by Dr. DisRespect.
"That's easy," Drake replied.
The duo was later joined by rapper Travis Scott and Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, who admitted during the game he is a huge Ninja fan.
That night, they maxed out at 635,000 concurrent viewers. Luckily, Twitch didn't actually crash. You can watch the recorded games on Ninja's YouTube channel.
During the CNBC interview, Blevins reminded viewers that while playing video games on Twitch may seem like an easy way make millions, he doesn't recommend quitting your day job — at least not at first.
"You can't just drop everything and focus on playing video games for a living," he said, after pointing out that when he first started his gaming career, he was also working, going to college, and playing soccer. "You want to make sure you're securing your future and putting in the extra time to make this happen as well."
Perhaps the most charming part of Ninja's zero-to-hero story is his previous job at Noodles and Co., which he has nothing but kind words for, as evidenced by this Twitter thread:
—Noodles & Company (@noodlescompany) March 22, 2018
And based on this tweet, it seems like they feel the same way:
—Noodles & Company (@noodlescompany) March 21, 2018
Jessica Blevins is in charge of managing Ninja's entire business, including coordinating the handful of people who are part of "Team Ninja."
She's also a streamer in her own right, going by the online handle JGhosty.
In March, while playing "Fortnite" with Matthew "Nadeshot" Haag, Ninja started freestyle-rapping over the song "44 More" by Logic.
The actual lyrics to the song don't include the N-word, but Blevins said it anyway, to the surprise of his partner (a video of the incident has since been deleted).
Lots of Ninja's fans came to his defense on Twitter after the initial blowback, saying that unlike YouTube star Felix "PewDiePie" Kjellberg, who famously fell from grace in 2016 after calling another player the N-word (and said many other regrettable things), Blevins had no malicious intent and clearly fumbled over it in the moment, indicating that it was a sincere accident.
Blevins apologized for the blunder in a series of tweets Thursday morning, saying: "The best way I can explain it is that I promise that I understand how much pain that word causes, even if it gets used a lot in music and elsewhere. It's a word historically used to divide people, and I'm about bringing people together."
He continued, "I apologize for offending anyone and appreciate you all rocking with me."
Prior to 2018, Ninja was one of the thousands of 20-somethings livestreaming video games on Twitch — where he had around 28,000 subscribers — and making gaming videos for YouTube.
He also played "Halo" professionally, traveling all over the country to compete with various esports teams, including the Renegades, Leftovers, and Team Liquid.
And while these are huge accomplishments in both the gaming and online entertainment industries, no one could have guessed what the future had in store for Ninja.
The esports and video game streaming are still emerging as sources for mainstream entertainment. Overnight celebrities like Ninja showcase how Twitch can reach global audiences
While Ninja's superstar status is closely tied to the success of "Fortnite," he has expressed a desire to diversify his brand and become known for more than just playing a specific game.
In August 2019 Ninja announced a new apparel deal with Adidas and released a book called "Get Good: My Ultimate Guide to Gaming." Then in September, he was the special guest on an episode of Fox's "The Masked Singer."
However, "Fortnite" is still the most popular game in the world and Ninja spends the vast majority of his streams playing it.
In August 2019 Ninja announced that he would be moving his stream to Mixer, starting with a live weekend event from Lollapalooza 2019. Microsoft reportedly will pay Ninja $20 million to $30 million over the next three years to broadcast exclusively on Mixer.
Mixer has seen a substantial increase in viewers since Ninja arrived — it only took him one week became the first streamer on Mixer with 1 million followers.