Fortnite Star Ninja Says He Raked in Millions of Dollars Last Year (cnet.com) 121
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 last year. From a report: 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.
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From playing outside to watching button presses (Score:2)
When I was a kid, we played outside. We invented a pretty sophisticated game of battling kingdoms that involved running around acting like it was Game of Thrones or whatever.
A few years later, video games came out. We sometimes sat on the couch pressing buttons.
Now the "fun" is to watch someone else sit on the couch pressing buttons.
I thought it was sad that my four year old daughter got into watching Ryan's Toy Reviews - watching another kid play with toys. This is another level, sitting in the couch watc
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Heck, when I was a kid, if I was released from chores around the house, I was G.O.N.E. gone until the street lights came on. If I hung around for any reason, I was nabbed for some other house project or occasionally kicked out of the house to "go play". I was the kitchen, dining room, garage guy and my brother was the living room, hall, bathroom, catbox guy and we shared a bedroom (bunk beds). Dad had a little notation book with fines when stuff wasn't cleaned to his exact requirements (Naval officer). Chan
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Heck, when I was a kid, if I was released from chores around the house, I was G.O.N.E. gone until the street lights came on. If I hung around for any reason, I was nabbed for some other house project or occasionally kicked out of the house to "go play". I was the kitchen, dining room, garage guy and my brother was the living room, hall, bathroom, catbox guy and we shared a bedroom (bunk beds). Dad had a little notation book with fines when stuff wasn't cleaned to his exact requirements (Naval officer). Change deducted from our weekly allowances for poor work. And on weekends it was garden work. He was a frustrated farmer I guess and would use the rototiller to tear up the back yard and plant corn and sunflowers. Man if we were released, it was time to go.
[John]
Right. I had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night half an hour before I went to bed, drink a cup of sulphuric acid, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill, and pay mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our Dad and our mother would kill us and dance about on our graves singing Hallelujah
And you try and tell the young people of today that ... they won't believe you
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They aren't watching just to see buttons getting pressed. They're watching for the host's commentary and the social interaction with other viewers through chat.
Well that's silly (Score:2)
> They're watching for the host's commentary and the social interaction with other viewers through chat.
Well that's almost as silly as this site I saw once where somebody would post poorly spelled, ridiculously biased commentary about some months-old news item. Then people would have "social interaction" discussing old news that didn't even matter to anyone other than total nerds even when it was fresh. So silly.
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There's a TV show called Gogglebox where you watch people who are watching TV.
Dollars to dog doo-doo there'll be a show where you watch people watching Gogglebox.
Good for him (Score:4, Interesting)
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If he's smart he'll invest that money.
Well, now that he bragged about it in public . . . the IRS will probably be wanting to have a chat with him.
Folks who I know who have serious wealth . . . they don't talk about it.
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Let's be real, they are only doing well as an advertisement for the game. Ohh golly gee really good a playing a computer game, who cares, only the company profiting by selling the game. Who paid the million dollars, other players of the game, better for them if they tell the dude to go screw themselves and demand the company put that money back into the game, rather than same lame arse carrot of yes, play what ever the name of the game is and you can become a millionaire, ohh yeah.
I wonder if this success drives new players (Score:5, Interesting)
I have been really impressed with how fast Fortnite has grown.
Just from speaking with friends that have kids, it seems like Fortnite has been kind of addictive (like kids getting in trouble for Fortnite related offenses), and I have to wonder if some of the draw is not kids partly dreaming they will be the next Ninja, earning big bucks by playing games... not unlike kids that wanted to be sports stars or movie actors.
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I've seen it first-hand working in a school. It's interesting to see how many ways students can find to look at Fortnite guides, characters, dances, etc. It's not as simple as blocking the game name as a search string, they start googling on the names of in-game items, skins and such. Then there is that 'Just Build' - lost count of how many students had downloaded that one before I noticed the sudden surge in disk usage and stuck it on the SRP blacklist. They still keep downloading it now, and it's difficul
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Unless the school he works at has any Fortnite-related classes, there's nothing wrong with what he's doing. If kids want to do Fortnite-related things they should do it at home, not using school property.
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Okay then, let's help them get a sex education too. Unblock all the p0rn site and let them watch p0rn during classes. It will also teach everyone tolerance toward other people's tastes.
Always been that way (Score:3)
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I suspect there's a lot of dotcom style bubble going on too, where advertisers are dumping their cash into something that won't give the same return on investment that they're hoping for.
I think it has more to do with modest system reqs (Score:2)
I don't think the hype train hurts though.
I don't get it. (Score:3)
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I don't understand what the appeal of watching someone else play a video game.
While it doesn't appeal to me, I suspect the phenomenon is similar to watching sports on TV.
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Or reality TV.
[John]
Re:I don't get it. (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:I don't get it. (Score:4, Insightful)
Have you ever watched someone play basketball? football? baseball? drive a car? Let's face it, we are all going to be only so good at some things. Few of us will ever be among the best in the world. It's fun to watch the best in the world do their thing. Even more so when we understand the nuances and difficulties in their accomplishments.
Most of those activities for the average person are either physically dangerous, prohibitively expensive, or both. I'm reasonably certain that most of the people watching these streams already have a computer/console/smartphone capable of playing the games that they're watching others play. The average person can participate without physical danger or extreme expense. Therein lies the difference to me.
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LOL! It's physically dangerous to bounce a ball and try and throw it through a hoop? prohibitively expensive to get a football and throw it around with friends?
Yes, it is. My freshman year of college during the first scrimmage of spring practice (I had been playing multiple sports including football for 10+ years at that point without serious injury) I broke my foot simply taking a step. Didn't get stepped on or have anyone fall on me or anything. I know another guy who lost out on a lucrative NFL contract due to an injury suffered during a non-contact practice. You don't have to be hitting people or even going full speed to get injured, sometimes significantl
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LOL! It's physically dangerous to bounce a ball and try and throw it through a hoop?
There are more injuries in basketball [livescience.com] than there are in any other sport.
prohibitively expensive to get a football and throw it around with friends? Most folks I know drive a car. The difference is I can't do any of that at a world class level.
It seems odd that you'd mock, given that's the context I was referring to. It's dangerous to play pro sports, and it's expensive as well. You probably don't know anyone who can afford to put together a NASCAR team.
The folks making big money in competitive gaming are very good at what they do. I would stand the same chance of winning a game of horse against Steph Curry, or a race against Jeff Gordon as I would a game of Fortnite against Ninja.
I'm not doubting their talent, and the fact that I can'
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And yet go to YouTube and you will see hundreds of pages of pro plumbers showing you how to install a sink which someone might do as a one off but even the quality of that install will likely not be as good as a pros.
That's more in the line of instructional videos. Something I might do if I had to install a sink but didn't know how, and I'd only watch it when I needed it, not for entertainment purposes.
I watch soccer, I've played it all my life and watch it religiously but I find no appeal in the NFL - I think it's a really boring game. To say you don't see the appeal in watching Fortnite is akin to me saying I don't see the appeal in American Football but difference is I don't denigrate those who do
I'm not denigrating anyone.I said I don't understand the appeal of watching a video game--I'd much rather play one than watch someone else. I used to play football, hockey, baseball & basketball and still enjoy watching those occasionally. I enjoyed playing soccer, but I find that tedious to watch.
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Growing up in the 70s and 80s has permanently put me off watching videos of "plumbers".
Do the ones on Youtube also have unfeasibly bad moustaches?
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I don't understand why so much money is spent on sports either, or why people feel compelled so strongly to not miss a single game.
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I don't understand what the appeal of watching someone else play a football game. To me, football games have always been about doing something. I might check out a clip from a football game to see what it's like, but it's hard to see myself watching someone play a football game & blather on while they're doing it. Maybe it's a generational thing? I'd sincerely like to hear someone explain to my why this is a thing.
Now do you understand? It's not a generational thing - every previous generation watched others play games. This generation has another game to watch. Nothing has changed.
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I don't understand what the appeal of watching someone else play a football game. To me, football games have always been about doing something. I might check out a clip from a football game to see what it's like, but it's hard to see myself watching someone play a football game & blather on while they're doing it. Maybe it's a generational thing? I'd sincerely like to hear someone explain to my why this is a thing.
Now do you understand? It's not a generational thing - every previous generation watched others play games. This generation has another game to watch. Nothing has changed.
Switching the words doesn't make your case. In most instances, you're not listening to the football players themselves blather. They don't get extensive individual airtime. Watching someone play a video game seems about as interesting as watching the world's fastest typist type a post on slashdot.
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I don't understand what the appeal of watching someone else play a football game. To me, football games have always been about doing something. I might check out a clip from a football game to see what it's like, but it's hard to see myself watching someone play a football game & blather on while they're doing it. Maybe it's a generational thing? I'd sincerely like to hear someone explain to my why this is a thing.
Now do you understand? It's not a generational thing - every previous generation watched others play games. This generation has another game to watch. Nothing has changed.
Switching the words doesn't make your case. In most instances, you're not listening to the football players themselves blather. They don't get extensive individual airtime. Watching someone play a video game seems about as interesting as watching the world's fastest typist type a post on slashdot.
The game is still accompanied by mindless blather - does it matter that it's not a player blathering on? And solo sports players do get extensive individual airtime (tennis is still popular after all).
Listen, I get it - you want your preferred mindless games to be regarded as something special, but to the majority of people (something stupid like one out of every ten individual follows any particular sport) football is as pointless as fortnite. I switch the channel when games comes on, whether it's fortnit
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Several reasons (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't understand what the appeal of watching someone else play a video game.
When I was starting to play Fortnite, I watched a number of videos of people playing to understand what the mechanics of really successful players looked like - to see what was possible.
Sometimes in the past I have watched video (live or otherwise) of people playing because they were going to play a part of a game where I wanted to see what happened, but did not want to put in the time required to see for myself.
Sometimes I'm actually a little surprised games sell so well when so many people could spend less time just watching some people play. That's more for games that are tedious, but it sure seems like a lot of modern games have tedious elements these days.
Also I am sure some people just like being involved in a kind of community, where a bunch of people are supporting some person and they recognize that support in real time. That is kind of an energy boost to be part of something larger than yourself.
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I learned all I need to know about Fortnite by watching Outside Xbox Christmas challenge of seeing how long they could survive in Fortnite without picking up any weapons or armor.
(Answer is, they placed 4th in one game and 5th in the next.)
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I'm with you... watching other people play games has always seemed pretty boring to me. My kids do it though. As others have pointed out- it's similar to watching others play sports (although the major difference is, you could easily play a video game yourself at any time... a sport usually requires participation of other people, plus having the physical ability to do it yourself).
With that said- people do all sorts of things that are boring to me. To each his/her own, be it: the stamp collector, the pe
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I mostly only watch them for previews of what a game is like, since games no longer come out with demos or previews.
Although I do occasionally watch things like "5 more things in Skyrim you probably haven't found" just so that I could say "nope, I found all of those!"
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I'm with you... watching other people play games has always seemed pretty boring to me. My kids do it though. As others have pointed out- it's similar to watching others play sports (although the major difference is, you could easily play a video game yourself at any time... a sport usually requires participation of other people, plus having the physical ability to do it yourself).
With that said- people do all sorts of things that are boring to me. To each his/her own, be it: the stamp collector, the person who eats ludicrously hot peppers for the sensation of being in pain, people who watch golf, people who watch cooking shows, people who memorise entire train schedules to places they have no intention to go, or even people who watch films produced by JJ Abrams.
They are all just ways of not having to think about your own mortality.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
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1. Between work and family, I just cannot devote much time to playing games anymore. There are not many games (that I enjoy) that give me the flexibility to come and go as needed.
2. Previews. Remember when demos were a thing? Now they are mostly gone, so the next best thing is to watch someone else play the game for a bit and see if it looks good. I have avoided a couple purchases this way and also bought a few games I otherwise would
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what I do not understand is why so many people without a connection to a specific university follow their sports teams like a religion?
Maybe it depends where you live, but nobody I know has a particular involvement with where they went to university after they've graduated, and (certainly here in the UK) university sports are just for students anyway.
Re: I don't get it. (Score:2)
It is a generational thing. It is much easier to watch stuff than to do stuff.
These days it shocks me to see kids and teens just mindlessly consuming stuff on their laptops all day. They don't code, play games, solve crossword puzzles, etc. They just use their computers to watch. They are the ones watching others play computer games, which, let's admit it, is both totally absurd and also sad.
They are slowly losing the qualities needed for doing things, which takes effort, dedication, concentration, overcomi
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Kids with tablets & phones (Score:2)
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> I don't understand what the appeal of watching someone else play a video game.
> I'd sincerely like to hear someone explain to my why this is a thing.
= The Short Version =
TL:DR; I watch a few YouTube gamers because I want to learn something about the game and get ideas.
= The Long Version =
I used to be in the exact same boat a few years ago: Why the fuck would I _watch_ someone (else) play when I could be _playing_ it ???
You asked if "Maybe it's a generational thing?" -- I think this definitely plays
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Assholes (Score:4, Interesting)
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And I swear that guy is going to have an aneurism with the rage fits he has from time to time.
Or...he's aware that those rage fits are a part of the entertainment value to his audience.
Re:Assholes (Score:4, Insightful)
And I swear that guy is going to have an aneurism with the rage fits he has from time to time.
Or...he's aware that those rage fits are a part of the entertainment value to his audience.
Offering crowds train-wreck to watch is a media-savvy strategy. It got Trump elected.
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Why not time-delay the global stream by a few minutes, and sell tickets for a realtime view in a controlled-access room? Solves that problem.
Off my Lawn! (Score:3)
I will never be able to wrap my head around watching someone else play video games. I get how there should be a similarity between that and watching pros play physical sports, but I just can't get over that gap.
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Thanks - that's a helpful comparison. Although I don't watch really any youtube channels either....life is too short to sift through piles of shit looking for diamonds.
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It's not actually the same. If you watch the pro e-sport leagues, where there are teams and tournaments, that's more like watching football, but watching individuals more casually stream is more like watching a show where the audience can interact with the host. It's a lot about personality same as many youtube channels
Exactly, you have the illusion of being friends with an actual god-like genius. You don't get that watching Lionel Messi on TV.
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My daughter watches Twitch fairly often, and it seems to be less about watching the game being played and more about the entertaining, non-stop, patter some of these guys engage in while they play.
I've glanced at some of these streams she's watching, and I must admit the guys can be pretty funny. But I still don't really grok how one could spend hours watching it.
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I will never be able to wrap my head around watching someone else play video games. I get how there should be a similarity between that and watching pros play physical sports, but I just can't get over that gap.
I can understand the appeal (under some circumstances) in person. You know the person, are hanging out with them, sharing their excitement, etc.
Watching someone you don't know play though, remotely? Me neither.
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I will never be able to wrap my head around watching someone else play video games. I get how there should be a similarity between that and watching pros play physical sports, but I just can't get over that gap.
Or maybe it's just the type of sports... I mean I doubt there's a big overlap between the people who watch snooker/golf/tennis and those who watch football/basketball/racing. I'm absolutely a gamer, but I very rarely watch any eSports.
Global economy must be doing well ... (Score:1)
Or else all of the whinings about millennials living paycheck to paycheck is only because they have misplaced financial priorities. And don['t know how to do things for themselves so they have plenty of time to spend doing ... nothing of value.
I admit it, I play video games. Free ones. When I have the time from doing other things.
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The money isn't coming from his viewers (who, for the most part, are younger than millennials), it's coming from advertisers.
how long before e-jock taxes come up? (Score:2)
how long before e-jock taxes come up?