Last Updated on September 13, 2024
Who Is Ninja?
Richard Tyler Blevins Jr., popularly known as Ninja, is an American professional YouTuber, streamer, internet personality, and gamer. Tyler Blevins made his foray into professional streaming in 2009 by participating in various esports teams. At the time, he was playing competitive games for Halo 3.
However, Blevins became exceedingly popular in October 2017 when he joined other streamers in playing Fortnite Battle Royale. A year later, Fortnite became a mainstream game and with it, Blevins’ popularity increased even further. At some point, he partnered with Fortnite to make the game even more popular.
On August 1, 2019, Blevins retired his Twitch streaming account and decided to focus on Mixer. At the time of parting ways with his Twitch profile, Blevins was ranked the most-followed active channel on Twitch.
Quick Facts
| Full Name: | Richard Tyler Blevins Jr. |
| Popular Name: | Ninja |
| Gender: | Male |
| Birth Date: | June 5, 1991 |
| Age: | 31 years |
| Parents: | Chuck Blevins and Cynthia Blevins |
| Siblings: | Jonathan Blevins and Chris Blevins |
| Birth Place: | Detroit, Michigan |
| Nationality: | American |
| Ethnicity: | Welsh |
| Education: | Grayslake Central High School |
| Marital Status: | Married |
| Sexual Orientation: | Straight |
| Wife/Spouse: | Jessica Goch |
| Children: | None |
| Dating: | N/A |
| Net Worth: | 25 million |
| Source of Wealth: | Videogaming, Streaming, and YouTubing |
| Height: | 6′ 1″ (1.85 m) |
| Weight: | 70 kg; In pounds: 154 lbs. |
Early Life and Career Information
Richard Tyler Blevins Jr. was born on June 5, 1991, in Detroit, Michigan to Chuck Blevins and Cynthia Blevins. When Blevins was just a year old, the family moved to Chicago suburbs where he spent the better part of his childhood. He attended Grayslake Central High School, where he mostly played soccer and also took an avid interest in videogames.
After graduating from high school, Blevins decided to pursue a career as a professional videogamer. To nurture his dreams, he participated in tournaments and also joined professional organizations. Eventually, he was able to popularize his videogaming skills by livestreaming his games.
Tyler Blevins became a professional videogamer in 2009 by playing Halo 3, where he played for various teams such as Renegades, Team Liquid, and Cloud9. In 2011, Blevins became a streamer. He started with HIZI before moving to PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and later on to PUBG, where he won the PUGB Gamescom Invitational Squads classification.
Immediately after the PUBG Gamescom Invitational, Blevins began streaming the newly-released Fortnite Battle Royale. Between September 2017 and March 2018, his followers on Twitch had grown from 500,000 to an impressive 2 million. Partnerships with celebrities like Juju-Smith Schuster, Travis Scott, and Drake saw his popularity increase astronomically.
On August 1, 2019, Tyler Blevins parted ways with his Twitch account and began streaming exclusively on Mixer. He would eventually venture into YouTube streaming too. As of June 2020, Ninja had more than 23 million YouTube subscribers.
Ninja’s Net Worth
As of 2023, Ninja had a net worth of $25 million. He has earned his wealth from his career as a professional videogamer, YouTuber, and streamer. Most of his wealth comes from streaming Fortnite as well as monetized advertisements on his social media accounts.
In December 2018, Ninja estimated that he had earned upwards of $10 million throughout the year from streaming Fortnite. As of May 2020, he was earning more than $500,000 per month from streaming the game alone. During one of his livestreams, he reportedly earned a one-off anonymous donation worth $40,000.
In addition to earning from streaming Fortnite, Ninja has also landed various lucrative partnership deals, mostly with Fortnite’s rivals. According to Reuters, he received up to $1 million to play Apex Legends on his Twitch stream, as well as promote the title on his various social media accounts. Apex Legends is one of the serious competitors to Fortnite.
Besides streaming and monetized campaigns on social media, Ninja has also appeared in various films and television shows. In 2015, Ninja and his family landed a role in various episodes of the Family Feud show where they collectively earned more than $40,000.
Also, the streamer has since compiled a music album titled Ninjawerks: Vol. 1. The album, which is a collaboration with the record label, Astralwerks, features original songs by artists like Nero, Tycho, and Alesso.
Life Lessons from Ninja
1. Keep on with the force
After graduating from high school, Ninja’s career as a streamer began on a rather slow note. However, by participating in several tournaments and joining relevant organizations, his career eventually took off.
2. Seek out productive collaborations
Ninja’s success as a streamer is mostly due to his partnership with Fortnite. In Fortnite, he discovered an opportunity to grow his brand and he capitalized on it.
3. Know what doesn’t work
After a few years on Twitch, Ninja decided to shift to Microsoft’s Mixer platform. According to his wife who also doubles up as his manager, Ninja’s contract with Twitch was a bit limiting as it mostly focused on videogaming.
Quotes by Ninja
“I can 100 percent compete at the top level in every game that I play.”
“If I have one conversation with one female streamer where we’re playing with one another, and even if there’s a hint of flirting, that is going to be taken and going to be put on every single video and be clickbait forever.”
“I’m confident that no matter what game comes out, I’ll be able to play at a top competitive level.”
“The more ways you can tell a story and paint a picture, the better it is.”
“You can’t just drop everything and focus on playing video games for a living.”
Conclusion
Tyler Blevins has deservedly earned himself a spot among the most successful streamers and videogamers. While he doesn’t rank among the top 10 wealthiest YouTubers yet, he is definitely a force to be reckoned with.
