Ninja says he could have been the next Kai Cenat if he ‘didn’t go to Mixer’

Fortnite sensation Ninja has said he could have attained the same level of fame and success as fellow Twitch streamer Kai Cenat if he hadn’t joined Mixer, the now-defunct streaming platform.

During a Fortnite stream on May 16, Ninja reflected on his career trajectory and the success of Kai Cenat. He said the decision to move to Mixer, which shut down in 2020, may have hindered his potential to reach the heights achieved by Kai Cenat, known for his captivating and marathon gaming streams.

Kai Cenat recently captured headlines with his monumental streaming marathon of Elden Ring, which commenced on May 10. Throughout the marathon, Kai mesmerized audiences, reaching a peak viewership of 200,000.

During Ninja’s stream on May 16, he commended Kai’s accomplishments, hailing him as one of the top streamers globally, possibly even the very best. He highlighted Kai’s ability to maintain a major audience, even while sleeping, attributing it to Kai’s persistent effort.

However, Ninja’s praise took a turn that didn’t sit well with some viewers. “Kai’s pulling 30K cause he’s sleeping, dog. He just puts in the work,” Ninja remarked. “He does what I could have done if I stayed home and streamed and didn’t go to Mixer.”

Ninja famously made the transition from Twitch to Mixer in 2019, reportedly earning $30 million from the platform before its closure in 2020.

Viewers of Ninja’s stream quickly began fact-checking his statement. This led to the resurfacing of an old 2019 video on X (formerly known as Twitter) where Ninja congratulated Kai for surpassing his Twitch subscriber record. In the video, Ninja mentioned that “all I had to do for mine was be amazing at Fortnite and play video games,” contrasting his own path to success with Kai’s dedicated content creation approach.

In an X post on May 16, Ninja addressed his comments, clarifying his perspective. “I wanna be clear, I don’t think I ever could or would have put as much thought into the streams Kai does and his marathons,” he wrote. “He’s truly doing it different.”

At the time of writing, Kai hasn’t responded to Ninja’s remarks, but his comments have sparked significant discussion among viewers, with many just disagreeing with Ninja’s original comments. ”Kai does put a lot of work and creative stuff into his head,” one X user wrote. “You would probably done the same if you were willing to do it.” Another user wasn’t nearly as charitable: “Yeah sorry but no. Kai Cenat goes above and beyond and whoever is running his production management is a genius too.” The user went on to praise Ninja’s merits as a streamer, but noted he’s “never shown any of the initiative to do big streams like this” and rejected the idea that the Mixer move was to blame for Ninja not having recent success similar to Kai’s.

Despite the various challenges in the current content creation landscape, Ninja’s streaming career is on the upswing, maintaining his status as one of Twitch’s most-followed streamers.