LEVELING UP SINCE DAY ONE
Ninja has risen to mainstream star status as the most popular online gamer in the world. With over 22 million subscribers on YouTube and over 14.9 million followers on Instagram, Ninja entertains thousands on a daily basis through his mix of helpful and witty Fortnite streams on Microsoft's streaming platform, Mixer. The 28-year-old Chicago area resident has also raised millions for charity and enjoys spending time with his wife Jessica and two dogs when not online.
Getting to the top wasn’t easy. Ninja had to constantly push himself to meet the rising expectations of his followers. “I knew I needed to change,” says Ninja. “I always knew I needed to practice and stream more and play more and get better. And that's something that I've always done. I've still been doing it.” The thriving gamer decided to spread the knowledge and publish a book titled “Get Good: My Ultimate Guide To Gaming,” which serves as a manual for young kids who are interested in eSports.
It's been really inspiring to see a lot of people who are just at the top level of their game working with adidas. It's still, like, a shock to me.
FIGHTING BULLYING WITH GAMING
In a world where cyberbullying has become too common, Ninja lives to change the digital atmosphere one positive affirmation at a time. “It's really important to be pushing a lot of positivity in a world that is just drowned right now by negativity all over social media,” says the 28-year-old. “So I really believe that when you have that positive mindset and you lift others up around you, it's good karma coming back to you and hopefully they continue to do that for other people as well. And it then becomes a circle of love.” Though it’s a competitive sport, Ninja realizes that being anything other than positive will only set himself and his fans up for failure.
I want [to] just be a good role model, set a good example for their fans and the people who idolize them and look up to them.
CAN’T STOP, WON’T STOP
Today, Ninja is continuing to use his platform to help change the cultural perceptions of what it means to be a gamer. “[I want to] continue to perpetuate gaming and eSports and all that encompasses it... to keep pushing it forward further and further, getting it more mainstream until it's just accepted everywhere.” At that point, “it becomes a thing that people don't even question anymore.” Ninja has got us rapt, and we’ll be watching for more to come.