Ninja has made his first return to streaming after the death of Mixer last month, now hosting his Fortnite sessions on YouTube, though it is unclear if this is part of an exclusivity deal yet.
The move, which sees Ninja return to the platform where he originally built his following on videos of Epic's build-em-up battle royale, comes after his $30m exclusivity deal with Mixer came to an end when Microsoft's streaming platform shut down, transferring partnered streamers to Facebook Gaming.
Ninja teased the return earlier today, announcing the start of a stream to be hosted on his YouTube channel an hour before going live. He spent a short time catching up with his fans and followers on what's new in his life, including his lockdown look haircut which is bordering on PewDiePie cosplay with its length.
His return stream was accompanied by fellow Fortnite gang TimTheTatman, DrLupo and CouRageJD, and viewership hit 160,000 concurrents just after he started and won his first match back on the interwaves.
Some have speculated whether this is part of a paid return to the platform, as the biggest streamer in the world is currently free of any exclusivity deals as a result of Mixer's demise last month.
sources: Ninja is currently in negotiations with streaming platforms and no exclusive deal has yet been signed, including YouTube. today's YouTube live stream from Ninja is all on his own. maybe he'll stream on Twitch too.
— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) July 8, 2020
Insiders have suggested to journalist Rod 'Slasher' Breslau that Ninja is currently in negotiations about securing a home (and his bag) for the foreseeable future.
Will you be watching Ninja on YouTube now that he has begun streaming again? Or do you think he's holding out for a deal from Twitch?
