"Rubbed me the wrong way": Ninja lashes out at Epic Games for paying others to stream Fortnite

Popular Twitch streamer Tyler Blevins, better known as Ninja, has called out Epic Games in a clip that has been going viral on February 19, 2025. The clip is from one of his recent broadcasts where Tyler slammed Epic Games for not sponsoring him to play Fortnite on stream like other content creators.

Ninja is perhaps one of the most recognizable names in the Fortnite community and has been playing the game for years on his Twitch and YouTube broadcasts. The streamer has now claimed that he feels insulted by Epic Games because they did not offer to sponsor him to play the game while paying other people to do Fortnite comeback streams.

In the clip, he talks about how he felt insulted and claimed that he was overlooked for sponsorships because he had already been playing Fortnite. Ninja further stated that other streamers getting paid to play the game for a couple of hours rubbed him the wrong way:

"Do you have any idea how low-key insulting that is to be, I'm one of the only streamers, big streamers, playing your game. And because I am already playing it, you're going to pay a bunch of people to come back and play it for a day, not even a day, right? Play for two two-hour sessions. And dude, it just rubbed me the wrong way."

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Ninja says Epic Games never reached out for sponsorship while paying CourageJD and TimTheTatman to play Fortnite

In the same clip, Ninja explained why he felt that Epic Games had slighted him and claimed that he has been playing Fortnite consistently except the time he started playing Marvel Rivals when it was released.

"I have been playing this game, besides Marvel Rivals coming out, I really haven't left Fortnite in god knows how long. "

Ninja went on to state how Epic Games sponsored certain streamers like CouRageJD and TimTheTatman to play Fortnite to promote the return of OG mode:

"Me, Sypher, Courage, these are only some of the guys, okay? Pretty sure Courage, Tim, and a couple of other people got sponsored, paid Fortnite ads, to come back and play during all the stuff, right, like OG Fortnite coming back."

The streamer then noted how he was overlooked by Fortnite for ads because he had already been playing the game on stream:

"When I found out that they had ads, I was like, 'Oh dude, let's see if they reach out to us.' I am already playing the game. So they are like, 'We are going to pay these guys to comeback and play the game. Because we already have you, you're already playing.' And it's like, huh?"

With over 19 million followers on Twitch, Ninja remains the most-followed streamer on the Amazon-owned platform. He is an integral part of the Fortnite community and was the first content creator to get their skin in the battle royale as part of the Icon Series.