One of the world’s most popular streamers, Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, says trolls “berate” him every day because his number of viewers has fallen.
Ninja was propelled to stardom in 2018 after he played Fortnite on streaming site Twitch alongside rappers Drake and Travis Scott, and NFL player Juju Smith-Schuster.
He now has fewer viewers than at the height of his fame – but still has 67m followers across all platforms, and is the world’s third most popular Twitch streamer.
He told the BBC “haters” seem obsessed with the fact he was not quite as popular as he once was.
“I think I’m the only streamer on the planet who was pulling 100,000 viewers [per stream] consistently, but now I get like seven or eight thousand across Twitch and YouTube,” he said.
“So that’s something that the internet and trolls remind me of every day and the last couple of years have been rough,” he said.
Ninja says every day moderators have to remove people from his streams for being rude about his viewership falling.
He admits to having to work hard lately to ignore the trolls.
“It’s literally every day that I’m getting berated online”, he said.
Mr Blevins puts his fall in viewership down to the shrinking popularity of his favourite game Fortnite.
He is so well known to Fortnite fans that the game created special “skins” – digital items that change a character’s appearance – in his likeness.
He remains one of the highest earning streamers with an estimated net worth of $50m, according to Esportsinsider.
Despite the hostility he faces, he says he has no plans to stop playing or retire from streaming.
“I still love it and have a community that is strong and stays with me. I’m a gamer and an entertainer at heart – its in my blood,” he said.
The 34-year-old was speaking to the BBC as he prepares for a 24 hour charity stream to raise awareness about skin cancer after he discovered and removed two cancerous moles last year.
He’s set a target to raise $250,000 during the online gaming marathon where he will invite doctors to spread awareness about the importance of checking moles for signs of skin cancer.
As well as encouraging fans to donate, he’s pledged to donate a large sum himself to cancer charities but says the money is only one part of the mission.
“Me and my wife were going to give to this cause no matter what because it’s going to be important to us for the rest of our lives but it’s not just about us giving our money its the awareness aspect too,” he said.
Ninja particularly wants to encourage younger people to get their moles checked out and hopes that the stream will target his and younger generations.
He says he’ll be live for 12 hours of the livestream as he no longer has the energy for longer marathon sessions in front of the webcam.
“I’m 34 – I need my sleep man!” he said.
