Fortnite is without question one of the hottest video games in the world right now. Anyone with a Twitch account streaming Fortnite is bound to reel in some coin as a result, but there's one user who stands out. That's because Tyler "Ninja" Blevins, a former Noodles & Co employee, is making some serious bank right now.
— Ninja (@Ninja) March 17, 2018
In an interview with CNBC, Blevins revealed that he's raking in over $500,000 a month as a streamer. He's predominantly making that money from his subscribers, which come from Amazon, Twitch Prime, YouTube, Amazon, and Twitter. His followings easily number in the millions, with 1.04M on Twitter and 5.2M on YouTube right now. On Twitch, he's close to hitting 100 million total views.
Blevins also has a number of records to his name that keep drawing the crowds in. He's got serious skills to back his following up, having just broken the consecutive wins record on Fortnite with 21 straight. Getting a single win in Fortnite is a rare accomplishment itself, showing you just how good "Ninja" is.
Squads with Ninja, Drake, Travis Scott and JuJu!! - Fortnite Battle Royale Gameplay: https://t.co/Vwi0CgdcHF via @YouTube
— Ninja (@Ninja) March 16, 2018
Blevins is getting some serious celebrity recognition as well. He recently teamed up with the Champagne Papi — yes, the REAL Drake — to break the record for concurrent viewers on Twitch at over 635,000.
All of that fame stems from some pretty humble roots. Blevins got his initial followings while working at a local Noodles & Co., finishing up college, and playing Halo all at the same time. The fact that he was able to juggle all three and excel is downright impressive. The combination of streaming Halo and working in fast food is easily two jobs in one, and most people would struggle balancing just one job and school.
For Blevins, that hard work was motivated by a drive to secure a future, regardless of whether he ended up as a big-time streamer or not. "All the kids out there, you can't just drop everything and focus on playing video games for a living," he told CNBC. "It's also becoming a very competitive career choice right now, and you want to make sure you're securing your future and putting in the extra time to try to make this happen as well."
Ninja has become an inspiration through his journey from fast food worker to Twitch gaming legend. I mean, can you imagine going from cleaning the tables at a Noodles & Co to playing video games with Drake and getting paid for it?
