In conversation with Tyler 'Ninja' Blevins, the video gamer who surpassed Cristiano Ronaldo and Virat Kohli as sports' social king

Tyler Blevins, or as he is more popularly known, “Ninja”, is a 27-year-old gaming phenomenon who has cultivated a mass following on the Amazon-owned live streaming platform Twitch. The youngster, who hails from Grayslake, Illinois brings in over $500,000 a month for live streaming himself playing Fortnite, a multi-player action game which has surged in popularity in recent times thanks in part to its low-cost model.

Blevins has more than 9 million followers on Twitch, 14 million on YouTube, 7 million on Instagram and 2 million on Twitter, all of whom come to watch him play Fortnite. In the month of April, he had the highest social interactions (150 Million) in sports surpassing Cristiano Ronaldo (139 Million) and Virat Kohli (43 Million).

For Blevins, this popularity is worth a lot of money. In March, he told Forbes that he makes $3.50 per paid subscriber (a subscription on Twitch costs $4.99 a month) streaming Fortnite. And by that time, he already had 160,000 subscribers which translated to $560,000 a month (without even including revenue earned from YouTube, donations and Twitch bits).

In an exclusive interaction, the Red Bull athlete reveals how he earns so much, speaks about why Fortnite is so popular and the future of competitive gaming. Here are excerpts:

Q> First of all, how does one manage to earn more than $500,000 per month playing Fortnite?

A lot of the revenue is generated from Amazon Prime subscribers; they are allowed to donate to my Twitch channel. I also have a lot of amazing set of subscribers on YouTube, 5 million to be precise. I think it’s a great opportunity for gamers to earn by following their passion and earn good money as well.

Q> What do you think caused the sudden rise of battle royale games such as Fortnite and PUBG?

Battle Royale games are very competitive and engaging as players can play against one and other and look to win. People have always taken a liking for shooting games and battle royale games such as PUBG and Fortnite offer unique and innovative game mode in the world of shooting games.

I mean, simply because they're already releasing it on new platforms as well, they're just going to increase the audience and outreach they have for the game, and that's going to get more people talking about it. I think that it's really important to know that it's free to play, all it takes is for one person to mention Fortnite is free and there's another person playing.

Q> How do you think Fortnite compares to one of the greatest multiplayer games of all time - Counter Strike?

CS and Fortnite are two different type of games as both of them require a different level of skills. Also, Fortnite has overtaken Counter Strike as the most watched Twitch game, so it is doing very well. But it is unfair to compare both, as they are both fun to play.

Q> Immensely popular yet widely criticized. What does the future hold for gaming as a competitive sport?

Gaming has become very competitive over the years. Due to online gaming, people have the opportunity to compete with their friends which is exciting. Also, esports has become a profession for many gamers with a huge sum of money there to be earned. There is a huge following for gaming as well and it is encouraging to see the number of participation increase exponentially over the years. The future of gaming as a competitive sport looks very bright.

Q> Do you think it is time to include e-sports in multisport big-ticket events such as Olympics?

The concept of esports has become a phenomenon globally. It is a game played with the mind, somewhat like chess. There have been talks of esports being included in the 2024 Olympics, which would be great for the esports culture. It has an amazing global audience and including it in the Olympics would be a great move for it as it would encourage more gamers to consider it as a profession.

Q> You recently played Fortnite with Drake. Do you think celebrity involvement will enhance the popularity of these games?

It was an amazing experience to play with Drake. He followed me on Instagram and I wondered if I should ask him to play or not. My wife was really sceptical about the idea, but it was worth a shot. It is great to see celebrities getting involved in this; it will definitely improve the engagement of more players and increasing the popularity as these guys have many followers on social media too.