Transfer of players between clubs is a well-known phenomenon in sports, but transfer of streamers between platforms is a bit odd, though it has happened. Recently, Ninja, world’s famous Fortnite streamer, officially announced that he will no longer stream on Twitch but his fans can follow him on Mixer as of now. The transfer would be a great opportunity for Microsoft to grow its own streaming platform, though it has cost the company a lot of money.
According to Tom Warren, senior editor at The Verge, Microsoft has paid over $50 million to Ninja in order to bring the streamer on Mixer. Ninja is 2018’s best content creator according to The Game Awards event and has devoted most of his streams to Epic Games’ Fortnite.
Based on the number of viewers that were watching Ninja’s live-stream on Twitch, it seems Mixer is going to get a lot of new users soon. In response to the deal, Amazon has removed Ninja’s verification tick from his profile at Twitch.
Why did Microsoft pay ~$50 million+ to get Ninja on Mixer? This isn't about selling Xbox consoles. It's a platform play for xCloud, and Microsoft needs as many entry points to it as possible. Google has YouTube + Stadia and Amazon has Twitch. Microsoft has Xbox + Mixer + xCloud
— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) August 2, 2019
Tom Warren believes that Ninja’s transfer to Mixer is one of Microsoft’s many plans to grow and expand its xCloud system, which is going to directly compete with Google’s Stadia as soon as it launches. Whatever reason is behind Microsoft’s decision, it might make the streamer transfer a new policy within the video game industry, which we didn’t use to see before.
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