In an industry where content is king and fame fleeting, there is one name that stands out when people think ofFortnite.Despite the fact that there are thousands of streamers on Twitch at any given time and thousands of eyeballs glued to thousands ofFortnitestreams, it is Ninja who still reigns over the popular battle royale title. Even whenNinja declares he’s done withFortnite,he is still thought of as face of the game.
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One of the biggest Twitch events of 2018 was undoubtedly music artist Drake dropping in to join Ninja on aFortnitestream. The unusual cross promotion drew in 635,429 concurrent viewers on March 15th, 2018, and was a big first step in drawing media attention to Twitch and to Ninja in particular. This is when his fame began to escalate in the streaming world. The exposure created from this event would lead to Ninja bringing in 2.3 million followers in just that month.
While it is hard to ascribe Ninja’s status as theFortniteguy to just one event, it is telling that in the wake of the stream with Drake, numbers across the board on Twitch start to swell. It was the impetus that would bring people over to the platform out of curiosity. Big names like Tfue, TimtheTatman,Pokimane all see substantial viewership gainsafter March 2018. Ninja brought people to Twitch, and what game did he just happen to be playing during that stream with Drake? It wasFortnite.It became something that people remembered.
2019 Fortnite World Cup Finals & Growing the Brand
In the summer of 2019, theFortniteWorld Cup Finals kicked off their tournament at Arthur Ashe stadium in New York City. The $30 million prize pool drew in an initial 40 million competitors, whittled down to a few hundred, to compete in front of the huge crowd. This event drew considerable media coverage as it took place at the iconic venue that hosts the US Open tennis tournament, in the media hub that is NYC. While Ninja was not competing in the finals, he made several appearances and featured in stories for the event, reinforcing his status as the face of the franchise.Ninja would leave Twitch for Mixerafter the 2019 World Cup, causing a substantial drop in viewership, but his status had already been cemented.
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WhileFortnitehas seen a decline in popularity more recently, due to competition from a crowded battle royale market, it is still hugely popular.Ninja has flip flopped on leaving theFortnitescene,but there is no denying he is still the first name that comes to mind when thinking about the game. Pop culture likes to be able to tie personalities to movements and trends in order to build an image of that thing, not only from a marketability perspective, but as a shorthand to be able to reference quickly. Even if people emerge on the scene who do something better, those first few people are the ones people remember: Kelly Clarkson as the first American Idol, Neil Armstrong as the first man on the moon, YouTube has Pewdiepie, Twitch andFortnitehave Ninja. Career paths might change, but what they were first famous for really sticks.
Rapper Jay-Z recently sold part of his champagne brand for an estimated $300 million, but people aren’t going to most associate him with champagne or know him for his sports management agency. He’s Jay-Z the rapper. Ninja may move on to playValorant,or usehis Ninja skin inFall Guys,or maybe one day form an esports team that makes him more money, but he’ll always be theFortniteguy.
Fortniteis available now on Mobile, PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
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