Ninja (gamer) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Ninja
Blevins in 2023
Personal information
Born	Richard Tyler Blevins (1991-06-05) June 5, 1991 (age 34) Taylor, Michigan, U.S.
Education	Grayslake Central High School
Occupation	Live streamer YouTuber
Spouse(s)	Jessica Goch ​ (m. 2017)​
Signature
Twitch information
Also known as	NinjasHyper
Channel	Ninja
Years active	2011–present
Genre	Gaming
Games	Fortnite League of Legends PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds Z1 Battle Royale Halo Apex Legends Call of Duty: Warzone Valorant
Teams played for	Cloud9 Renegades Team Liquid Luminosity Gaming
Followers	19.2 million
Ninja YouTube information Years active 2011–present Genre Gaming Subscribers 23.7 million Total views 2.75 billion Associated acts MrBeast DrDisRespect Marshmello Dude Perfect TimTheTatman CouRageJD DrLupo Drake Myth LazarBeam SypherPK Trevor May Subscriber and view counts updated as of July 25, 2025.

Richard Tyler Blevins (born June 5, 1991), known to many as Ninja, is a famous American online streamer, YouTuber, and professional gamer. He started his journey by playing in esports teams for games like Halo 3. Ninja became super popular when he began playing Fortnite Battle Royale in late 2017.

In March 2018, Ninja became even more well-known. He played Fortnite live with famous people like Drake, Travis Scott, and JuJu Smith-Schuster. This stream broke a record for the most people watching at once on Twitch. As of July 2025, Ninja has over 19 million followers on his Twitch channel. This makes it the second most-followed Twitch channel in the world.

Early Life and Gaming Start

Richard Tyler Blevins was born in Taylor, Michigan. His family moved to the Chicago suburbs when he was a baby. He went to Grayslake Central High School. After finishing school, he decided to become a professional video game player. He joined gaming teams, played in tournaments, and started live streaming his games.

Ninja's Gaming Career

Becoming a Streamer

Ninja started playing Halo 3 professionally in 2009. He played for several well-known gaming teams. These teams included Cloud9, Renegades, Team Liquid, and Luminosity Gaming.

He began streaming his games in 2011. First, he played H1Z1, then he switched to PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG). In 2017, he joined Luminosity Gaming as a Halo player. Later, he moved to playing H1Z1 and then PUBG for them. He even won a big PUBG tournament in August 2017.

Fortnite Fame

After the PUBG tournament, Ninja started streaming Fortnite Battle Royale. This game had just come out. His audience grew very quickly as Fortnite became super popular. In September 2017, he had 500,000 followers on Twitch. By March 2018, this number jumped to over 2 million!

In March 2018, Ninja was the first Twitch streamer to reach 3 million followers. Later that month, he broke a record for the most viewers on a single stream. He had 635,000 people watching him play Fortnite with Drake, Travis Scott, and JuJu Smith-Schuster. This amazing event inspired the creators of Fortnite, Epic Games, to host a special charity event. At E3 2018, Ninja teamed up with musician Marshmello and they won the event. In April 2018, Ninja broke his own viewing record again. His event, Ninja Vegas 2018, had about 667,000 live viewers.

In June 2018, Ninja partnered with Red Bull Esports. They held a special Fortnite event in Chicago. Players could challenge him there. In April 2019, Red Bull even released a special drink can with Ninja's picture on it.

Ninja's huge rise in popularity on Twitch is closely linked to Fortnite's success. In December 2018, Ninja thought he had earned about $10 million that year. Epic Games also reported making over $3 billion, mostly from Fortnite. Ninja was the first PC player to get 5,000 Fortnite wins. To show how important he was, Epic Games added a Ninja-themed outfit to Fortnite in January 2020. This was part of their "Icon Series" for famous people connected to the game.

Switching Platforms

In February 2019, news came out that Ninja was paid to promote Apex Legends. This was another battle royale game that competed with Fortnite. He played Apex Legends on his Twitch stream and shared it on social media.

On August 1, 2019, Ninja left Twitch to stream only on Microsoft's Mixer platform. His wife and manager, Jessica, said that his Twitch contract made it hard for him to grow his brand outside of gaming. She also felt he was "losing himself" on Twitch.

Besides his many followers on Twitch and Mixer, Ninja also has over 24 million subscribers on YouTube as of April 2021. At that time, he was earning a lot of money each month from streaming Fortnite. He said that Fortnite's free-to-play model helped him grow.

Mixer shut down in July 2020. This meant Ninja was free to stream on other platforms again. On September 10, 2020, Ninja announced he was returning to Twitch. He signed a new deal to stream there for several years.

On September 1, 2022, Ninja changed his social media names to "User Not Found." He also tweeted that he needed a break and didn't know when or where he would return. However, on September 8, 2022, Ninja announced his comeback. He said he would stream his content on many platforms at once. These included Twitch, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook.

Other Appearances and Projects

Ninja and his family appeared on the TV game show Family Feud in 2015. After he became famous, his family returned for Celebrity Family Feud in August 2019.

In September 2018, Ninja made history. He was the first professional esports player to be on the cover of ESPN The Magazine. This showed how much he had become a mainstream sports star.

Ninja worked with the music label Astralwerks in October 2018. They created an album called Ninjawerks: Vol. 1. It featured original songs by electronic music artists. The album was released on December 14, 2018.

Ninja was also one of the Internet stars in YouTube Rewind 2018: Everyone Controls Rewind. He appeared briefly in an NFL ad during Super Bowl LIII in 2019. He was the only person in the ad who wasn't connected to football.

Ninja has also released several books. His book Get Good: My Ultimate Guide to Gaming came out on August 20, 2019.

Ninja appeared on the second season of The Masked Singer as "Ice Cream." He was voted off after his first performance. He later said he joined the show because his wife was a big fan.

In 2022, Ninja teamed up with MasterClass. They created a 30-day course. In this course, Ninja shares tips on how to become a successful streamer.

The Low Taper Fade Meme

In January 2024, Ninja got a lot of attention for his new low taper fade haircut. This happened after clips of streamer Ericdoa singing "Imagine if Ninja got a low taper fade" went viral on TikTok. This made the haircut very popular. Google searches for "Low Taper Fade" reached an all-time high after this moment.

Even after the craze seemed to slow down, it sparked new content. People started making videos about the meme's "decline." This brought the meme back to life. The new videos continued to get millions of views. Many of them showed Ninja "dragging" the meme by talking about it often. Ninja has even reacted to many of these new meme versions on his live streams.

Charity Work

Ninja has used his fame to help others. In February 2018, he held a charity stream. He raised over $110,000 for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

At a Fortnite Battle Royale esports event in April 2018, Ninja gave away almost $50,000 in prize money. Some of this went to the Alzheimer's Association. Later that April, he joined the #Clips4Kids charity event. With fellow streamers DrLupo and TimTheTatman, they raised over $340,000 for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. At E3 2018, Ninja and Marshmello won the Fortnite Pro-Am event. They donated their $1 million prize to a charity of their choice. In 2024, Ninja and his older brother Jonathan raised $93,000 for cancer research. They partnered with the University of Michigan and streamed from their football stadium.

Personal Life

Ninja has been married to his wife, Jessica Blevins, since 2017. He has two brothers, Jonathan and Chris. Jonathan also streams on Twitch as "BeardedBlevins." Chris is a teacher.

On March 26, 2024, Ninja shared that he had been diagnosed with melanoma, a type of skin cancer. A week later, on April 4, Ninja announced that he was officially cancer-free after a biopsy.

In March 2025, Ninja talked about his religious beliefs for the first time on a stream. He said he believes in Christianity. He mentioned that he and his wife have started going to church regularly. He also said he is "just trying to be a better person."

Film and Television Appearances

Film

Television

Web Series

Awards and Recognitions

See also

In Spanish: Ninja (jugador de videojuegos) para niños

• List of most-followed Twitch channels