Ninja (gamer)
Ninja | |||||||||||||
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Personal information | |||||||||||||
Born | Richard Tyler Blevins June 5, 1991 | ||||||||||||
Occupations |
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Spouse |
Jessica Blevins (m. 2017) | ||||||||||||
Organizations | |||||||||||||
Website | teamninja | ||||||||||||
Twitch information | |||||||||||||
Also known as | NinjasHyper | ||||||||||||
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Years active | 2011–present | ||||||||||||
Genre | Gaming | ||||||||||||
Games |
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Followers | 18.6 million | ||||||||||||
YouTube information | |||||||||||||
Channel | |||||||||||||
Years active | 2011–present | ||||||||||||
Genre | Gaming | ||||||||||||
Subscribers | 23.7 million (main channel) 23.75 million (combined)[a][1] | ||||||||||||
Total views | 2.50 billion (main channel) 2.5 billion (combined)[b][1] | ||||||||||||
Associated acts |
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Last updated: March 12, 2023 |
Richard Tyler Blevins (born June 5, 1991), better known as Ninja, is an American
Early life
Blevins was born in the Metro Detroit area and is of Welsh descent.[2][3] He has two older brothers, Jonathan and Chris. He moved with his family to the Chicago suburbs when he was just an infant, where he went on to attend Grayslake Central High School.[4] Upon graduation, he decided to play video games professionally, entering tournaments, joining professional organizations, and live streaming his games.[5]
Career
Esports and streaming
Blevins began playing
Blevins began streaming the newly released Fortnite Battle Royale shortly after the PUBG Gamescom Invitational. His viewership began to grow, which coincided with the game's growth in popularity over the late 2017/early 2018 period.[7] His followers on Twitch had grown from 500,000 in September 2017 to over 2 million by March 2018.[9]
In March 2018, Blevins became the first
Blevins partnered with Red Bull Esports in June 2018, and held a special Fortnite event, the Red Bull Rise Till Dawn in Chicago on July 21, 2018, where players could challenge him.[15] In April 2019, Red Bull released a limited-edition Red Bull can featuring an image of Blevins.[16][17]
Blevins' rise in popularity on Twitch is considered to be synergistically tied to the success of Fortnite Battle Royale. In December 2018, Blevins estimated he had made close to US$10 million in 2018, while Epic Games reported they had earned over US$3 billion in revenue in the year, primarily due to Fortnite.[18] He became the first PC player to surpass 5,000 Fortnite wins that same month.[19] To acknowledge Blevins' importance to Fortnite's success, Epic added a Ninja-based cosmetic outfit to the game in January 2020 as the first part of an "Icon Series" for other real-life personalities associated with Fortnite.[20]
Reuters reported that Blevins had been paid US$1 million by Electronic Arts to promote Apex Legends, a competing battle royale game to Fortnite, for playing the game on his Twitch stream and promoting the title through social media account during Apex release in February 2019.[21]
On August 1, 2019, Blevins left Twitch to stream exclusively on Microsoft's
Due to the shutdown of Mixer in July 2020, Blevins was released from his exclusivity deal, enabling him to stream on other platforms.[26] On September 10, 2020, Blevins revealed that he would return to streaming on Twitch after signing an exclusive multiyear deal and streamed on the platform the same day.[27]
On September 1, 2022, exactly two years after re-signing to Twitch, Blevins changed his name on his social media profiles, such as his Twitter[28] and YouTube,[29] to "User Not Found" with background graphics stating "Time Out". He simultaneously tweeted "I just need a break...I don't know when I will be back, or where".[30] On September 8, 2022, Blevins announced his return to streaming, stating that he would simulcast his content across multiple platforms, including Twitch, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook.[31]
Other appearances
Blevins and his family were featured in several episodes of the television game show Family Feud in 2015.[32] In an episode aired August 2019, after he had achieved his fame, his family returned as contestants on Celebrity Family Feud.[33]
In September 2018, Blevins became the first professional esports player to be featured on the cover of ESPN The Magazine, marking a breakthrough into mainstream sports fame.[34][4]
Blevins worked with the record label Astralwerks in October 2018 to compile an album titled Ninjawerks: Vol. 1 featuring original songs by electronic music acts.[35][36][37] The album was released on December 14, 2018.[38]
Blevins was one of several Internet celebrities featured in
Blevins has released several books with publishing house
Blevins participated in the second season of the Fox reality music competition The Masked Singer as "Ice Cream". He was voted out after his first performance to Devo's "Whip It" and Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road" and thus forced to unmasked. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Blevins said that he accepted an invitation to participate since his wife was a fan of the show.[43][44]
In 2022, Blevins partnered with MasterClass to create a 30-day curriculum in which Blevins provides advice on how to become a successful streamer.[45]
Charitable work
In a fundraising charity stream held in February 2018, Blevins raised over $110,000 to be donated to the
Controversies
In December 2016, Blevins released the address of a donor as retribution for having a racist screen name and donation message. This act, which is referred to as "doxing", is against the Twitch rules, which states they can result in an "indefinite suspension". Blevins was reported for this act, but only received a 48-hour suspension, which some believed was a result of Blevins' large audience on the platform.[50][51] Blevins later tweeted that he deserved the punishment.[51]
In March 2018, while in a stream with
In July 2018, false rumors of Blevins's death from the fictional disease "Ligma" circulated. That same month, Blevins asked his moderators to ban users who used the word on his Twitch stream, as it was being overused in the chat to set up the Ligma joke.[53][54]
In August 2018, Blevins stated that he does not stream with female gamers out of respect for his wife and to avoid the rumors that such streaming could create.[55] He received mixed reactions; some said that he should set an example and not make it more difficult for female streamers to rise to prominence, while others supported his stance, claiming that he should be allowed to do what he wants to protect his marriage.[56][57] In response to his critics, Blevins has since reaffirmed his support for gender equality and restated his commitment to his marriage, also mentioning some prominent female streamers by name.[58] He noted that women are welcome to play with him in a group or at events as he claims such situations allow him to "control the narrative more, without stupid drama and rumors flooding into our lives."[4]
In October 2018, Blevins reported a player for "having a higher ping" than him. This led to a player claiming on November 16, 2018, that they had been banned as a result of the report, which Epic Games denied.[59] Both of these incidents caused backlash against Blevins on social media.[60]
In November 2018, Blevins received criticism for falsely reporting IcyFive, a Fortnite player, for
Personal life
Ninja has been married to his wife Jessica since 2018. Ninja has two brothers, Jon and Chris. Jon also streams on Twitch as "BeardedBlevins". Chris is a teacher.[62]
On March 26, 2024, Ninja revealed he had recently been diagnosed with melanoma, a form of skin cancer.[63]
Filmography
Television
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2015 | Family Feud | Himself | Contestant |
2019 | Celebrity Family Feud | Episode: "Ninja vs. Juju and Jerry Springer vs. Doug Flutie" | |
2019 | The Masked Singer | Ice Cream | Season 2 |
2021 | Nickelodeon's Unfiltered | Himself | Episode: "Donut vs. The Volcano" |
2022 | Duncanville | Slayer | Episode: "Gamer vs. Gamer" |
2022 | Home Economics | Himself | Episode: "Melatonin 10 Mg Tablets, $14.99" |
Film
Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2021 | Free Guy | Himself | Cameo | [64] |
2022 | Hotel Transylvania: Transformania | Party Monster | Voice | [65] |
Awards and nominations
Year | Award | Category | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2018 | Streamy Awards | Breakout Creator | Nominated | [66] |
Creator of the Year | Nominated | |||
Gaming | Won | |||
Live Streamer | Won | |||
The Game Awards 2018 | Content Creator of the Year | Won | [67] | |
2019 | Shorty Awards | Twitch Streamer of the Year | Won | [68] |
Streamy Awards | Creator of the Year | Nominated | [69] | |
Live Streamer | Won | |||
Forbes 30 Under 30 | Games | Included | [70] | |
2020 | Kids' Choice Awards | Favorite Gamer | Nominated | [71] |
Streamy Awards | Live Streamer | Nominated | [72] | |
2021 | Kids' Choice Awards | Favorite Male Social Star | Nominated | [73][74] |
See also
Notes
References
- ^ a b "About Ninja". YouTube.
- ^ @Ninja (January 2, 2013). "RTB stands for Richard Tyler Blevins my full name :D!" (Tweet). Archived from the original on August 27, 2018. Retrieved March 26, 2018 – via Twitter.
- .
- ^ a b c d Teng, Elaine (September 18, 2018). "Living the Stream". ESPN The Magazine. Archived from the original on September 18, 2018. Retrieved September 18, 2018.
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- ^ Cameron, John (November 29, 2018). "Alesso, Tycho and 3LAU Share Clips of New Music from Ninjawerks". Edm.com - the Latest Electronic Dance Music News, Reviews & Artists. Archived from the original on November 30, 2018. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
- ^ "NERO share first song in 2 years ahead of Twitch star Ninja's Compilation". Edm.com - the Latest Electronic Dance Music News, Reviews & Artists. December 4, 2018. Archived from the original on December 14, 2018. Retrieved December 11, 2018.
- ^ "NinjaWerks Digital Album (Preorder)". Team Ninja. Archived from the original on November 29, 2018. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
- ^ Fogel, Stefanie (December 7, 2018). "YouTube Rewind 2018 Video Features a Lot of 'Fortnite'". Variety. Archived from the original on December 19, 2019. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
- ^ Brady, Erik (February 4, 2019). "NFL commercial wins USA Today's Ad Meter with tackle-filled celebration in 'The 100-Year Game'". USA Today. Archived from the original on February 4, 2019. Retrieved February 4, 2019.
- ^ Hernandez, Patricia (August 13, 2019). "If you're reading this, Ninja's new book probably isn't for you". Polygon. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
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- ^ Rice, Lynette (September 26, 2019). "The Ice Cream speaks! Here's how 'The Masked Singer' recruited the mysterious celebrity". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on October 17, 2019. Retrieved October 17, 2019.
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