Richard Tyler Blevins, more commonly known as Ninja, is one of the most famous pro-gamers in the world. The streaming superstar continually smashes records and currently boasts more than 16 million followers on Twitch. To say this 29-year-old has amassed an enormous fortune as a result of his success would be an understatement. Here’s the truth about Ninja’s net worth and the details behind his gaming empire.
Ninja Was One Of The First Ever Celebrity Gamers
Born in Detroit, Michigan, on June 5th, 1991, Ninja began professionally gaming back in 2009, after graduating from high school. But he was not an overnight success. The Fornite master maintained a level head when he started out and even attended college for a year.
“I continued to do well in school and focus on the future of my life,” he said in a 2018 interview.
“It was one of those things where if I was doing well in school, putting in the time and effort there, and soccer as well, that I would be rewarded to play as many games as I want. I maintained my job that I was working at Noodles & Company and I stayed in college while I was doing all of these things.”
Ninja started streaming his games in 2011. As his success grew and he started getting sponsored, the Halo 3 player realized he could make gaming his full-time career. He started playing for several popular esports companies, including Cloud9, Renegades, and Team Liquid. He joined Luminosity Gaming in 2017.
Around that same time, he started streaming the newly released online multiplayer game Fortnite. That led to a major influx of Twitch followers, taking the gamer from 500,000 in September 2017 to over two million by March of 2018.
But Ninja didn’t truly cement his celebrity gaming status until he played Fortnite with rapper Drake in 2018. With an audience of 635,000, that stream (which also featured rapper Travis Scott and the NFL’s JuJu Smith-Schuster) set a Twitch record for the largest concurrent audience for an individual non-tournament stream.
“I’m like 99.9 percent sure we are about to break Twitch,” Ninja said after Drake announced the stream on social media.
He Played A Part In The Success Of ‘Fortnite’
Ninja has been credited with helping shape the evolving esports streaming industry. He’s considered to be one of the first full-time celebrity gamers and in 2019, he even made Time‘s list of the 100 most influential people.
Ninja has also had a big hand in boosting the popularity of the now massively popular Fortnite, thanks to his session with Drake and other successful streams. Here he is on CNBC singing the game’s praises.
In fact, to thank him for all the attention he brought to the game, Fortnite creator Epic Games gave Ninja his very own skin.
“It looks just like me!” he exclaimed in a 2020 video. “I’m just really excited about this, I’m excited to share this with you guys. If you put the time in, the effort in, anything is possible. That’s just facts.”
In an effort to replicate the colossal success of Fortnite, video game giant Electronic Arts recruited Ninja to promote their 2019 release, Apex Legends. The strategy worked. The free-to-play game generated more than 10 million signups within the first few hours of its launch.
In exchange for singing the praises of Apex Legends to his millions of followers, Ninja reportedly earned a cool $1 million.
Ninja Has A Net Worth of $25 Million
So what is Ninja’s net worth? According to CelebrityNetWorth.com, it’s $25 million. In addition to his Twitch earnings, this number includes the cash he made from his brief deal with the now-defunct platform Mixer, as well as his YouTube channel streams, which reportedly earn him $500,000 a month.
Ninja’s net worth is also bolstered by many lucrative endorsement deals. His partnerships with big brands include Red Bull, Uber Eats, Adidas, and Walmart. In 2019, he starred in a Super Bowl ad alongside Peyton Manning and Michael Strahan. He also released a book filled with tips and tricks for aspiring online gamers called Get Good: My Ultimate Guide to Gaming.
As for what’s made this breakthrough gamer become such an enormous success, Ninja says most of it has come from hard work, patience, and mastery of his craft over the years.
“When it comes to streaming in general, I’ve been doing it a long time,” he said in 2018. “I know how to put on a good show, and being a top player is always a way to get fans. There’s something about people saying you’re the best that just drives more people to say, ‘Who?’ And then they go and watch. It’s just a domino effect.”