Fortnite star Ninja says he raked in millions of dollars last year
The esports player had a really good 2018.
Tyler "Ninja" Blevins broke Twitch records last year, thanks to Fortnite.
In case you needed another reminder that Fortnite was the biggest game of 2018, esports star Ninja says he racked up millions of dollars playing it.
Tyler Blevins, aka Ninja, told CNN in a story Monday that he made nearly $10 million last year playing Fortnite: Battle Royale.
Blevins has more than 12.5 million followers on game streaming service Twitch and more than 20 million subscribers on streaming giant YouTube. The professional gamer told CNN he made most of his fortune from advertisers on YouTube and Twitch, as well as from video game tournaments and sponsors like Samsung and Red Bull.
The famous Fortnite gamer snatched the spotlight when he broke a Twitch viewing record in March. Blevins streamed himself and rapper Drake playing duo in Fortnite, which more than 600,000 people watched live at its peak. This figure broke Twitch's all-time concurrent viewers record. Blevins was also the first Twitch streamer to attract over 10 million followers.
In September, Blevins became the first esports player to land on the cover of ESPN's magazine. In the same month, Samsung announced its own Fortnite contest, in which one winner would get to play in a squad with Blevins and rapper Travis Scott.
Fortnite, one of the biggest free-to-play games on consoles ever, took 2018 by storm. The game became a cultural phenomenon, and raked in $3 billion for developer Epic Games across all platforms last year.
Blevins' representative declined CNET's request for further comment.
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